Over 100 people demonstrated at Pinnacles National Park as part of Draw the Line, an event taking place in several locations in the United States to draw attention to the use of “fracking” by the oil and gas industry and to show opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline connecting Canadian oil sands with refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The overall issue concerning the participants was the focus on increased use of fossil fuels increasing the phenomenon of climate change.
The group was at the Pinnacles National Park in support of the Center for Biological Diversity’s law suit against the San Benito County Board of Supervisors and their approval of Citadel Exploration Inc.’s plan to drill exploratory wells nine miles southeast of the Park. The project will be using steam injection, a method which allows the extraction of previously difficult heavy oil deposits by making them more fluid.
Citadel Exploration Inc., is Founder & CEO: Armen Nahabedian, a fourth generation California oilman and CFO Phil McPherson. It is a joint venture with Sojitz Energy Ventures described in the investor presentations as a $20 billion Japanese trading conglomerate.
The company has several sites in California which are under development. According to Citadel’s reports, most of the oil readily available in California is “heavy oil”. They believe that with steam injection methods, they can get production from heavy oil deposits which have been difficult to develop. They believe that the current low cost of natural gas for heating the steam and the high market price of oil makes this an opportune time to take advantage of the technology. It is their belief, according to their investor presentations, that California is on the verge of a “Renaissance of Oil”. They assess the “Indian” project as having 100 mm barrels gross in place.
The people gathered at the Pinnacles demonstration were aware that Citadel Exploration was not proposing to use Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking”) on their Indian Project, but they were using the opportunity to protest against that practice. The group did consider Steam Injection as another form of “extreme” extraction technique.
At the demonstration there was a large puppet of a California Condor, one of the Pinnacles best known residents, and the subject of on-going efforts to save it from extinction. The proposed project is in the territory frequented by the endangered bird and there was concern among the group that the endangered birds would be adversely affected.
Participants arrived from various parts of the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas, Salinas, Richmond, Santa Cruz. There was a sizable turnout of San Benito residents as well, including Peter and Paul Hain, whose great-grandfather, Schuyler Hain, was responsible for the recognition of the Pinnacles.
from Wikipedia:
“Schuyler Hain was a homesteader who arrived in the Pinnacles area in 1891 from Michigan, following his parents and seven siblings to Bear Valley.[10] His cousin, A.W. White, was a student at Stanford University, and White brought one of his professors to see the Pinnacles in 1893. Dr. Gilbert was impressed by the scenery, and his comments inspired Hain to publicize the region.[11] Hain led tours to Bear Valley and through the caves, advocating the preservation of the Pinnacles. Hain’s efforts resulted in a 1904 visit by Stanford president David Starr Jordan, who contacted Fresno Congressman James C. Needham. Jordan and Needham in turn influenced Gifford Pinchot to advocate the establishment of the Pinnacles Forest Reserve to President Theodore Roosevelt.”
The Hain brothers were among a handful of local residents of that sparsely populated area, who showed up, Patty Swanson, who teaches at San Jose State University and lives on nearby Old Hernandez Road, with her husband and three children, was accompanied by her mother. Swanson was concerned about the potential contamination of the water aquifers, since water in the area was so valuable to ranchers.
The Hains were concerned about the incompatibility of increasing large truck traffic on Hwy 25 at the same time they are trying to increase visitation by tourists to the newly designated National Park. Paul Hain said that if the road is dangerous for travelers, word will spread and people will stay away.
The group was passionate in their belief that continued use of oil and gas was not only destructive to the environment, but threatens to unbalance the natural systems which produce and sustain life on the planet.
Jan Saxton from Aromas, representing 350.org presented 3 facts for the assembly to consider. She said that the only thing the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change was able to agree on was the allowable limit of 2 degrees of warming of the Earth, She reported that a NASA scientist had determined that 565 gigatons is the limit of carbon dioxide which can be added to the atmosphere and stay below 2 degrees. She said that the amount of 2,795 gigatons which are already known fossil reserves, is 5 times the allowable amount which can be used without going beyond the 2 degree limit. She encouraged everyone to do the math.
Members of San Benito Rising, Indian Canyon, Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club, 350.org and Californians Against Fracking shared the organization and sponsor of the event.
The participants gathered at the entrance to the campground and then around the area, lined up along the road and then listened to a program of speakers and artists, including; Ann Marie Sayers, and Kanyon Sayers Rood of Indian Canyon, Sonne Reyna of San Juan Bautista, Jan Saxton of 350.org, Kate Woods, writer and resident of New Idria, Andrea Weber of the Center for Biological Diversity and Cynthia Denny of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter.
Paul Hain said that he understood that owners of agricultural property have to be sensitive to the bottom line. He could see that someone being offered the opportunity to make enough money to send their kids to college or other financial needs might be attracted to leasing their land for oil exploration, but said that the larger issues must also be weighed.
Peter Hain said that he understood the need to bridge the gap between those who feel that no one has the right to tell them what they can and can’t do on their property, and those who feel that the common good is most important.
Â