The Center for Biological Diversity, a San Francisco-based organization that supports the anti-fracking Measure J, is advertising its participation in a “Global Frackdown” that will bus people from the San Francisco BART station to San Benito County on Saturday “to activate people on Measure J and win this historic vote.” The No on Measure J campaign, on the other hand, sent out a press release calling on the Center to drop its plans to bus activists here “and halt its campaign of deceit in our community.”
“Next door to the Bay Area, there’s the fight of a lifetime going down,” the Center said in advertising the activity. “San Benito County is battling to ban fracking, and it’s up against some steep odds. Big Oil has pumped millions (yes millions) of dollars into this little county to defeat Measure J, a grassroots intiative banning practices known to contaminate water, cause earthquakes, and sharply augment drought. But we have people power, and together, the Bay Area can help San Benito pass Measure J. That’s why for the Global Frackdown, the Center for Biological Diversity is bringing people down to San Benito (to) get out the vote.”
Measure J would prohibit hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and related gas and oil extraction activities such as acid well stimulation and cyclic steam injection. It would also prohibit any new gas or oil drilling activity – even conventional, low-intensity activity – in areas of the county zoned for residential or rural land use. The Center says that San Benito County “has the highest percentage of organic agriculture of any county in California and the nation’s newest National Park — Pinnacles — home of the endangered California condor.”
The No on J campaign said the Center, “which sued to cut water flows to San Benito—is now behind an effort to bring activists from around the Bay Area to Hollister on Saturday and Sunday to try to convince voters to pass Measure J and shut down petroleum operations in the county. They’re purposely confusing voters—telling them our water is threatened by fracking when they know fracking isn’t used here,” said Kristina Chavez Wyatt, the No on Measure J spokeswoman. “Their real agenda is to shut down our local energy industry without regard to loss of jobs and revenue for public services, and increased dependence on imports for our energy needs.”
The Center said in its call to action, “The battle against fracking is at a pivotal moment. If we win Measure J, we amass critical power and a statewide ban comes into our reach. If we lose, we’ll be treading water, and a ban in California could be lost until the next decade.”
The Center will provide transportation from the San Francisco International Airport BART station at 9 a.m. and “provide a thorough canvass training” at 11 a.m. The outreach itself is scheduled to take place from noon-3 p.m.
There are also plans to celebrate the “Global Frackdown” at 1 p.m. Sunday at Veteran’s Memorial Park on Memorial Drive, according to the event notice here.
For more information on the Global Frackdown, click here.