Planning Commission Rejects Trio Oil Wells
Salinas >> With Measure Z and last month’s court ruling as a backdrop, the Planning Commission on Wednesday finalized its denial of a Trio Petroleum bid for four oil and gas exploration wells in southern…
Supervisors Approve Trio Oil Wells
Salinas >> With a controversial remote San Benito County solar farm project as an unlikely backdrop, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday granted an appeal by Trio Petroleum of the county Planning Commission’s denial four…
Judge Issues Measure Z Decision
Measure Z scored a victory in court—for now, at least—but also suffered two major losses. The measure, a ballot initiative Monterey County voters approved in the November 2016 election, would have banned fracking, wastewater injection…
Measure Z trial ends, judge’s ruling expected quickly
Monterey >> Attorneys wrapped up their arguments on Thursday in the first phase of the Measure Z trial aimed at deciding whether the voter-approved initiative establishing some of the nation’s toughest oil and gas restrictions…
Inside the Measure Z Trial
The first phase of the trial over Monterey County’s voter-approved fracking ban wrapped up Thursday afternoon. Judge Thomas Wills has 90 days to make a decision. Oil companies and royalty owners filed multiple lawsuits against…
Courts to decide whether Measure Z is legal
In a standing-room-only courtroom packed with about 20 attorneys, the first shots were fired Nov. 13 in the trial over Measure Z, a case that is being watched across the country as potentially setting a…
Hearing on Measure Z Ordinance Continues
Nearly a year after voters approved Measure Z, establishing some of the nation’s toughest oil and gas restrictions, county supervisors continued molding a critical ordinance that would establish a process for considering exemptions from the…
Big Oil Goes to Court Against Measure Z
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…
Monterey Supervisors consider Measure Z exemptions
MONTEREY, Calif. - Measure Z, an initiative that bans fracking and wastewater injection in Monterey County, may have easily passed in November, but it was only the beginning of a long battle over land rights…
Stanford scientists find ‘water windfall’ in California
New research indicates that California's Central Valley harbors three times more groundwater than previously estimated, but challenges to using it include pumping costs, ground subsidence and possible contamination from fracking and other oil and gas…