An Aromas group wants San Benito County to tighten controls on oil and gas drilling and is seeking a six-month moratorium on new wells in the meantime.
The request by Aromas Cares for our Environment has the support of Granite Rock Co., which touched off concern about possible drilling in the rural community bordering Santa Cruz County after it commissioned a seismic study that can detect oil and gas.
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors has scheduled a discussion on the issue for Sept. 25.
“I don’t see (any oil drilling) pending or imminent in the Aromas area,” said Supervisor Anthony Botelho. “But I still think it’s important that we bring it up.”
Botelho said the oil and gas industry is focused in the southeast corner of the rural county, and permitted wells are not using the controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But he said neither the county nor the state appear to have sufficient controls on the process. In his eight years on the board, there have been no discussion of the issue, he said.
“It’s better to have policies and procedures in place prior to an application being submitted,” Botelho said. “After an application is submitted it’s too late to change the rules.”
The Aromas group contends the county rules need to be updated as they have been in neighboring Monterey County and in Santa Barbara County to respond to new drilling technologies with measures such as increased bonding requirements and environmental review.
Maureen Cain, a spokeswoman for the group, said more than 500 people have signed a petition in support of their request.
“We’re asking the board of supervisors to work with us to put safeguards in place for our air, water and quality of life,” Cain said.
No one has proposed drilling for oil in Aromas, but secrecy surrounding the seismic survey conducted in July bred speculation and mistrust in the community.
Graniterock representatives initially played down the company’s role in the study, but later said it tapped technology from the oil and gas industry to map its underground granite deposits. The company has not ruled out oil or gas extraction.
Kevin Jeffery, Graniterock’s general counsel, confirmed Wednesday that he had sent a letter to Botelho on behalf of the company backing the Aromas group’s request for updating San Benito County’s rules for oil and gas wells.
“Graniterock shares ACE’s concern about protecting the Aromas’s environment, groundwater, infrastructure and way of life,” Jeffery wrote in the Sept. 7 letter.
Jeffery said company officials have not decided whether to attend the Sept. 25 board meeting.
Cain said Graniterock’s position is a step toward rebuilding trust between the community and the company.
“We hope Graniterock will be a partner with the community in protecting the quality of life that makes Aromas such a special place,” she said.
