What do people who know something about extracting oil say?
Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, which dominates Williston Basin fracking, says that “they haven’t cracked the code in the Monterey”.
The oil industry, however, was hardly ready to hoist a white flag.
Tupper Hull, vice president of the Western States Petroleum Association, an oil industry trade group, said, “We’ve always been quite clear that there are challenges to producing oil out of the Monterey” Shale that set it apart from shale formations already tapped in North Dakota, Texas and elsewhere. “I have every confidence that the oil companies possess the experience and the ability to innovate. If anyone can figure it out, they can figure it out.”
Severin Borenstein, who directs the University of California Energy Institute, said “this is definitely a huge setback to the expansion of oil production in California, but I would not at all say the game is over. ... It is way too early to say that this is the death of fracking in California. Technology only moves forward, and I am sure there is going to be millions of dollars spent trying to make it better specifically for California because there is so much potential.”
A University of Southern California analysis — funded partly by Hull’s association, based partly on Energy Information Administration data and released in March 2013 — had estimated the Monterey Shale could help California create up to 2.8 million new jobs and generate up to $24.6 billion per year in new tax revenue by 2020.
In May 2013, Brown said “the fossil fuel deposits in California are incredible, the potential is extraordinary.” Environmental groups urged Brown to support a fracking moratorium, but the governor resisted. In September, he signed a law creating new fracking regulations, including a permitting process, notification of neighbors, public disclosure of chemicals used and groundwater- and air-quality monitoring.