Calling voter-approved Measure Z a misleading initiative preempted by state and federal law that would result in the end of a 70-year history of oil and gas production in Monterey County and an unconstitutional taking of private property rights without due compensation, Big Oil and its fellow plaintiffs laid out their legal argument in Monterey County Superior Court filings on Friday.
In opening briefs, Aera Energy, Chevron and other plaintiffs argued that the initiative establishing some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on oil and gas operations is so flawed that it “should be stricken in its entirety.”