I don’t believe this at all.
Most of the rich deposits were said to be near Big Sur, some of the most pittoresque driving vistas in the USA.
I think there was absolutely ENORMOUS pressure to downplay the promise of Monterey Shale.
I just don’t trust the source.
Who is applying the pressure? Tom Steyer and the enviros? It is the oil companies who are losing interest. Sacramento wants the revenue and has set up a process toward drilling approvals.
Neither do I. Everything this Administration and its minions in the government sets my BULLSHIT meter off.
Meanwhile, government funded climatologists raised estimates of the rise in sea level and global temperature by 96%.
Besides, Obama needs to confiscate more land for his new National Monument Obama-Holder Drug and Wetback Corridors, and Feudal Lord Reid always needs more land for his BLM.
The companies that have been drilling into the Monterey Shale have been talking for years how difficult it is too produce and reliably hit the "sweet spots" with all the lifts, twists and fractures due to the geological movements.