It should probably come as no surprise that Governor Jerry Brown used the resources of the state’s oil and gas regulation agency to research the “‘potential for future oil and gas activity’ at the Brown family’s private land in Northern California.”
For those who don’t come from oil and gas states, and may not know this, having an oil and gas survey done on your land is something you’re supposed to pay for yourself. Either you, or a private company that’s interested in leasing your land for mineral exploitation, pays another private company to do the survey.
That’s the honest, legitimate, above-board way to research the potential for future oil and gas activity on your land. As the Associated Press found, however, Jerry Brown had it done for his land at taxpayer expense:
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Gov. Jerry Brown last year directed state oil and gas regulators to research, map and report back on any mining and oil drilling history and “potential for future oil and gas activity” at the Brown family’s private land in Northern California, state records show.
After a phone call from the governor and follow-up requests from his aides, senior staffers in the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency over at least two days produced a 51-page historical report and geological assessment, plus a personalized satellite-imaged geological and oil and gas drilling map for the area around Brown’s family ranchland near the town of Williams.
State regulators labeled the map they did for Brown “Oil and Gas Potential In West Colusa County,” and “JB-Ranch,” referring to the Brown family land in Colusa County.
Ultimately, the regulators told the governor, prospects were “very low” for any commercial drilling or mining at the 2,700-acre property, which has been in Brown’s family for more than a century.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
