Measure Z supporters hold Bless the Salinas River event

UPDATE 10/3/2016 9 PM:

The debate over how the oil industry drills in Monterey County continues. In just weeks, voters will have to decide whether to ban fracking. One side of the argument is ramping up efforts. A high profile activist from Minnesota made an appearance at Salinas River Wildlife Refuge on Monday.

From Standing Rock to the Central Coast, Native American activist Dennis Banks is lending his name to a controversial issue and joining other tribes to protest fracking in Monterey County.

“They’re killing the earth,” Banks said. “The very earth that we depend on, that we all depend on.”

Since co-founding the American Indian Movement nearly 50 years ago, he’s been taking part in demonstrations all over the country. One of the most recent is the Dakota Pipeline protest in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

“We’re honored to have him here, giving his endorsement to our Measure Z,” Demetrio Pruneda with Protect Monterey County said.

Banks and some 70 others walked one of the trails at the wildlife refuge, honoring the idea that water is life.

Measure Z would not only ban fracking, it would also phase out wastewater injections and stop drilling new oil wells. The group said those tactics threaten the water and future of the area.

“According to the information, they are not fracking,” Pruneda. “However, they are using an extreme oil extraction method that’s called cyclic flooding or cyclic steam injection.

Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter is one of at least four Monterey County mayors who want voters to say no to Measure Z.

“I have spoken to farmers out there who check their water regularly, who actually get their water pumped out of the ground right next to where this oil drilling is going,” Gunter said. “There is no fracking going on. This measures goes above and beyond the measure of the truth.”

Gunter said existing oil operations in South Monterey County bring in about $8 million a year. Without that money, he said, schools, jobs and public safety are at risk.

“I believe people need to read this measure before they vote on it,” Gunter said.

Some methods used in oil operations have been looked at by county officials. In a statement provided to KION, a hydrologist with the Monterey County Water Resource Agency said, “Methods currently used in Monterey County oil operations appear to have had no impact on the groundwater aquifers in the Salinas Valley.”

However, Protect Monterey County disagrees, believing some have been compromised.

“According to some of the information that we have,” Pruneda said, “They’ve already contaminated some of our aquifers in the South County.”

ORIGINAL POST:

Native American leaders showed their support Monday for Measure Z, the initiative that would ban fracking and other oil producing techniques in Monterey County.

Activist Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, took part in a ceremony to bless the Salinas River and the groundwater beneath it.

The Protect Monterey County coalition, which is pushing Measure Z, called the river the lifeblood of local agriculture. If passed, Measure Z would phase out wastewater injection, where water used in oil pumping operations is returned to aquifers.

Reporter Mariana Hicks covered today’s event and will have a full report on issues related to Measure Z tonight at 5 and 6 on KION News Channel 5/46.