Fracking Permits withdrawn

I received this forward from Steve Craig last night in which I thought my readers would be interested. This is more important than the photographs I was planning for today, so that project is on the back burner for a few days (or later today, if I get sidetracked from work!)

It is Steve Craig’s opinion that the test drills were not sufficiently financially lucrative to make the project worth continued effort on Venoco’s part, given the opposition and current economic realities. Way to go, HoldOn and others. The fracking battle may be over in our backyards, but other areas of the nation continue to face this battle for clean water.

“Dear Mr. Novo,

Venoco, Inc. does hereby withdraw our exploratory drilling applications for our #1b (File No. PLN090120), #7a (File No. PLN090119) and #34b (File No. PLN090118) pad locations, along Jolon Road and the nearby town of Bradley. As a result, there are no are Venoco, Inc. items for Planning Commission consideration and we request that our applications therefore be immediately pulled from the Planning Commission’s October 26, 2011 agenda. Effective Friday, October 21, 2011 we request that Monterey County cease any and all further work on these proposed applications and send a final invoice for work up and including today’s date, October 24, 2011.

Thank you for your prompt attention and consideration. If you have any questions regarding the above referenced projects, please contact me at (805) xxx-xxxx.

Bruce Carter, Venoco, Inc.”

Interestingly, I also received another email last night, reproduced in part below:

“1:30PM – VENOCO LLC: USE PERMIT REQUESTS FOR NINE EXPLORATORY OIL AND GAS WELLS – PLN100632 (Owners: Avila Sam TR ET AL; Ward Rowena Joanne Trs; Porter Estate Company, Bradley Ranch Inc) – APPELLANT: VENTANA CONSERVATION AND LAND TRUST AND THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
Project Planner: Ramon Montano/Taven Kinison Brown. Project Description: CONTINUED FROM MARCH 30, 2011. Appeal from the Zoning Administrator’s decision to approve the Venoco Corporation’s proposal to drill up to nine (9) total exploratory oil and natural gas wells. … Recommended Action: Support Appeal and Deny Project.”

There is an article in today’s Monterey Herald here.

Great job, Steve and others!