Hollister’s David Maynard led off Tuesday’s public hearing over a proposed fracking ban with a poem, telling residents in attendance, “Don’t be like Judas Kiss – unleash the abyss.”
Maynard set the tone with his rhyming narrative that included such lines as:
“Think of all the drama that led to trauma from chemical warfare. This shall be similar if it gets in the air.”
And this:
“Our governor may say he’s green but he’s brown, and he’s going down in history as a mother fracker as his legacy.”
Next up among speakers, incidentally, was the less-animated spokesman from Citadel Exploration.
The Ojai company is set to use steam injection technology to extract an estimated goal of 20 million to 60 million barrels of oil from a Bitterwater field. Maynard and others from the group San Benito Rising argue such higher-intensity methods of production cause environmental damage such as water contamination.
Citadel has disagreed, noting that most oil production in California uses similar thermal recovery technologies. The company has argued San Benito Rising is distorting the facts by primarily campaigning against fracking.
“No one’s proposing a fracking project in San Benito County,” Citadel spokesman Robert Parry said after the meeting. “Who are they really targeting with this initiative?”
At Tuesday’s hearing, Parry noted how the company received its steam injection permit from the state and read a letter submitted to county officials. That letter claimed the initiative is illegal – an allegation later refuted by a lawyer speaking in support of San Benito Rising – and hinted at potential legal action with a petition approval.
“With this letter, we are hereby notifying the county that we believe this initiative is both illegal for the supervisors to adopt now or add to the ballot for a later date,” reads the letter signed by Citadel CEO Armen Nahabedian. “By doing either or both, the County will accept liability for the actions of those authors of the initiative and we ask that you not lay in the bed these Jacobins have made.”
Those statements didn’t appear to deter speakers supporting the initiative.
Mary Hsia-Coron contended threats of legal action don’t carry any merit and called them “baseless scare tactics.”
Anne Marie Sayers from Indian Canyon said water “is the blood of the earth” and expressed concern about fracking repercussions.
“How is it going to affect seven generations into the future?” she said.
Hollister’s Sarah Steiner acknowledged she is “dependent on oil” because she drives a car and eats food that requires distribution.
“Consider me a fossil fuel addict,” she said.
Steiner finished by saying the proposed ordinance “grants us clean needles.”
Jeanette Langstaff said it is time for a lifestyle change.
“We have enough oil production and we need healthy jobs for our people,” she said.
Before moving ahead to the ballot, one of the speakers wanted more answers about the potential financial impact and requested a fiscal report on the ordinance, one of the three options before supervisors Tuesday. Kristina Chavez Wyatt, executive director of the local business council, also noted how no fracking projects are proposed in the county and urged those involved in the debate to “focus on facts.”
“I refuse to let this issue tear our community apart,” she said. “I’m here for the long haul.”
While Supervisor Margie Barrios agreed about the fiscal report and had the one dissenting vote, another board member was ready to campaign in support of the ordinance.
“I will campaign hard to get it approved,” Supervisor Robert Rivas said. “It’s about time we lead the way. We don’t want to see our natural environment plundered.”
