Hollister Councilman Ray Friend on Monday requested that city staff members draft a resolution proposing to oppose Measure J – the petroleum initiative on the November ballot – while the mayor said he would support such a discussion on one condition.
“I want to have experts here that are unbiased,” Mayor Ignacio Velazquez said.
Friend brought up the matter during council members’ reports at Monday’s meeting and said he hoped to have a resolution considered in early October.
“That’ll give the opposing factions time to be here and argue their case,” Friend said.
Measure J is a proposal to ban fracking, cyclic steaming and acidizing as forms of oil extraction in the county. It would ban all petroleum activities in rural residential zones near Hollister and San Juan Bautista.
