Yes on Z backers rally at CSUMB

A student organization at California State University Monterey Bay that supports Measure Z, a ballot measure to ban fracking and wastewater injection in Monterey County, hosted a rally at the campus Friday.

The rally was hosted by the United Students Against Fracking and other supporters of Measure Z.

“Most students know that fracking is bad, but they are surprised that local aquifers are being poisoned,” protest organizer Riley Rhodebeck said in a press release.

“We believe that fracking is a dangerous form of oil extraction and it needs to be stopped,” said Rhodebeck.

In addition to putting a county-wide ban on fracking, the measure puts an end to acid well stimulation treatments, it stops new, and phases out, existing lands that do oil and gas wastewater injections and it prohibits the drilling of new oil and gas wells in the unincorporated areas of the county.

Rhodebeck said the measure is about the environment, not politics.

“The biggest issue is that they are taking the waste water that comes up from the ground and they are putting into the Salinas Valley River,” said Rhodebeck.

Opponents of the measure disagree saying that the water injections are treated and safe.

“They have been replacing water into the Salinas groundwater basin for many decades,” said Norm Groot with the Monterey County Farm Bureau. “That water is probably cleaner than what is actually in the groundwater itself.”

Untreated water is not put into the aquifer, according to Groot.

Back at the rally supporters of the measure aren’t buying that.

“Despite all the science and the evidence we have, the aquifers are still being polluted,” said Luana Conley with a group called Protect Monterey County.

“The reason why they are spending so much money against us is that they plan on fracking in the future,” said Rhodebeck.

The Vote No side, which includes several Monterey County mayors, said that there is currently no fracking taking place in the county. Opponents also claim the measure would kill jobs and severely hurt the county, projecting a $300 million loss in economic activity.

The problem, Groot said, is Measure Z’s ban on new oil or gas wells in unincorporated parts of the county.

“That’s going to definitely cause the oil and gas company to go away,” said Groot. “They do rely the ability to drill new wells as needed.”

Supporters of the measure think there are better ways.

“They can keep all their old wells and there are different forms of the oil extraction,” said Rhodebeck. “So there is horizontal drilling there are a lot of different ways they can use those same wells.”