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ARCHIVES

Huasna locals say ‘no’ to oil plan

By April Charlton/Senior Staff Writer

Arthur Halleran with United Hunter Oil and Gas Corp. explains to Carol Flovence, left, and Heather Hellman how the Australian-based oil company will drill on pad #2 on the Mankins Ranch in the Huasna Valley area. //Phil Klein/Contributor
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When Huasna Valley farmer Ron Skinner first learned of plans several years ago to drill for oil about a mile from his home and organic farm, he wanted to ensure the project wouldn’t harm the surrounding rural lands.

His neighbors in the valley also held those same beliefs.

Today, Skinner and others in the quiet, agricultural community east of Arroyo Grande have changed their mindset and would like nothing better than to see Excelaron pack up and leave town.

Excelaron LLC is seeking a conditional-use permit from San Luis Obispo County to allow for oil exploration and production on the 5,000-acre Mankins Ranch in Huasna Valley, where an existing oil field is located.

Skinner heads the Huasna Valley Association, a grassroots group of valley residents that aim to keep Huasna as environmentally pristine as possible and free of any oil wells or rigs.

“Initially, our intention was to lay down community standards and guidelines that any project like this should have,” Skinner said, adding the group’s focus has changed over the years to keeping Excelaron out of their community.

The more the group has learned about Excelaron, a subsidiary of Australian Oil Company, the more Huasna residents want to see the proposal to drill for oil in their backyard voted down by county leaders.

“I just think it is bad business,” said Huasna resident Doug Timewell.

Timewell and others who live along Huasna Road — the corridor of Huasna Valley — believe that a productive oil field in the community will hurt property values, destroy the environment and leave residents with no recourse to reclaim the land.

Several homes recently up for sale in the corridor went back on the market after potential buyers learned of the proposed oil project during escrow proceedings, according to Timewell and other residents.

“Homes aren’t selling and people don’t want to buy (out there) because of the oil project,” Timewell said.

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Situated on the hillside about two miles above the Mankins Ranch, Art Halleran, United Hunter Oil & Gas chief executive officer and geologist, surveyed the three small areas where Excelaron wants to extract black gold from the ground.

The Canadian-based UHO is a primary partner in the Excelaron Huasna Oil Field Exploration project, which if approved by the county and other regulatory agencies will be developed in phases.

The first phase would consist of exploration and drilling of four test wells and one produced water injection well on the hillside. If commercial quantities of oil can be extracted, up to eight more wells would be drilled and in production for at least 20 years.

“The oil is here,” Halleran said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

He added the oil under the ranch isn’t just tar as so many people believe and would be used primarily in road construction, fertilizers, fuels and plastics.

“California is set up for this type of oil,” he added.

The plan is to use hot water flooding to pull the oil up from deep below the earth’s surface. Underground pumps would also be used, which Halleran and others associated with the project say are very quiet, as quiet as a sewing machine.

Halleran also said the method of extracting the oil wouldn’t contaminate the groundwater in the valley and residents really have nothing to fear as the permitting process is stringent and has many environmental safeguards in place.

“It’s very, very strict, ... and drilling would be well below the aquifer,” Halleran explained, adding Excelaron has agreed to install water monitoring wells at the site if the project is approved.

Although the parcel where the project is proposed for development is 260 acres, Excelaron also only plans to develop about two acres of the land.

“It’s not a big project,” Halleran said.

He also said concerns about potential accidents — leaks, explosions and fires — that could happen in any oil field wouldn’t

occur in Huasna because the site would be manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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A new concern for valley residents with the proposed project is its proximity to the West Huasna Fault, which sits about a mile from the Mankins Ranch and experienced two temblors in the past months.

Skinner and others think it’s absurd that the county would even consider permitting a drilling project so close to an active earthquake fault, especially when a nuclear power plant sits on the coast and near the same fault.

“It just seems like a really bad idea,” Skinner said, adding that hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, has been shown to trigger earthquakes when the drilling occurs near faults.

Fracking is a method used to extract oil and natural gas from the earth using water, sand and chemicals.

The process also is exempt from government regulations and the California Public Resources Code allows companies to not report what chemicals are used when fracking is employed.

Halleran stressed that fracking wouldn’t be a technology used by Excelaron to pull the oil up to the earth’s surface.

“We will not frack this formation, ever,” Halleran said. “It’s already fractured.”

A draft environmental impact report for the proposed project can be viewed online at www.slocounty.ca.gov/planning.htm. Comments are due by 4:30 p.m. Aug. 5.

For more information, call county Planner John McKenzie at 788-2143 or email him at jdmckenzie@co.slo.ca.us.