The state Court of Appeal upholds a local trial court decision – Measure Z cannot stand.

It’s been a long road that began back in March 2015, when the county Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 against a moratorium on fracking in the county (even though no fracking was occurring). That vote energized activists – motivated by both a desire to protect the local water supply and to fight climate change – who successfully organized to get an initiative on the November 2016 ballot that would ban fracking, wastewater injection and any new oil and gas development in the county.

Measure Z passed with 56 percent of the vote, which immediately set off a flurry of lawsuits from local oil interests, and which Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills consolidated into a single case. Plaintiffs included Chevron, Aera and other oil companies. The defendants: Monterey County and Protect Monterey County, the activist group that brought the measure.

After a 2017 trial, Wills upheld the fracking ban (no fracking was occuring in the county), but struck down its other provisions, arguing they were preempted by state law regarding oil and gas regulation.

Monterey County opted not to appeal that ruling, but attorneys for Protect Monterey County did, and the matter was argued in front of the Sixth District Court of Appeal on Sept 28.

On Oct. 12, that court issued an opinion upholding Wills’ 2017 ruling, and agreeing that state law “explicitly provides [state agencies] have the authority to decide whether to permit an oil and gas drilling operation to drill a new well or utilize wastewater,” and that “local regulation of these aspects would conflict” with state law.

Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney with Protect Monterey County, is disappointed with the decision. “We think it was wrongly decided, and that it cuts against a century of court cases upholding the rights of cities and counties,” he says.

Kretzmann says it remains unclear if Protect Monterey County will petition to have the case heard before the California Supreme Court. “We’re keeping our options open at the moment,” he says.