Monterey, Calif. -- On Wednesday, more than 17,000 acres of land are being put on the auction block for oil and gas leases. More than half of that is right here on the Central Coast.
In San Benito County over 1,200 parcels of oil will be up for grabs and in Monterey County it's a little under 1,000 parcels. In San Benito, the bulk of the oil parcels are in the Vallecitos Valley area, that is about 60 miles southeast of Hollister. In Monterey, the majority is west of the 101 highway near King City.
Under the golden hills of the Central Coast there is a shale formation that could yield billions of barrels of oil. But its how oil companies plan to get to the oil deep underneath the Central Coast that has environmentalist sounding off about fracking.
"We don't know what kind of chemical they're using when they inject this water laced with chemicals into the ground," said Dan Jacobsen, Environment California.
San Benito County Supervisor Jerry Muenzer doesn't think the Federal Bureau of Land Management's decision to lease the land this week means fracking is a for sure thing.
"This is in an area that has been explored and drilled since the 50s and the biggest reserves have been pumped out," said Muenzer.
If oil companies do decide to use the fracking method, there's nothing that can stop them because there is no state regulation right now. In the past year, lawmakers have introduced bills which would regulate the practice, but those bills have died in the legislature.
"One is we are experts not on fracking here in the state, so we shouldn't be doing it. Two the alternatives are abundant, we should be investing in solar and wind geothermal things that don't cause pollution," said Jacobsen.
Supervisor Muenzer said if oil companies do end up moving into San Benito County areas he said because the area is so remote and oil wells have been there before he does not see this as controversial.
