http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/24/1347097/-Oil-company-to-file-1-2-billion-lawsuit-against-county-with-57k-people-for-banning-fracking?detail=email
I've written before about oil interests threatening lawsuits against municipalities trying to ban fracking. Frequently the threat of financial violence (and a boatload of money in campaigning) is enough to dissuade people from voting to ban. Well, San Benito County, in California, voted on Measure J, to ban fracking from their county a couple of weeks ago. Yeehaw! Democracy!
Hold the phone.
Citadel Exploration has filed a $1.2 billion claim against the county.
The claim is a precursor to a much broader lawsuit expected to be filed by Citadel Exploration. The company is hoping to extract millions of barrels of oil from south San Benito County fields, just west of Bitterwater, Calif., with their plan called Project Indian
$1.2 billion dollars is a lot of money for a municipality of 57,600 people. Where does the big money number come from?
Citadel owners claim they could have extracted 20-40 million barrels of oil over the life of the project, a value they believe equals $1.2 billion. "$1.2 billion. That's like asking for the moon. The county will file for bankruptcy and reorganize. He’s not going to get anything,” San Benito County Supervisor Jerry Muenzer said.
Needless to say, San Benito does not have that kind of scratch. They would have to declare bankruptcy. After San Benito officials go through the workings of their county's legal process, including a hearing on whether or not to grant an exception to Citadel, the board of supervisors will reject the claim. At that point, Citadel will file a lawsuit.
Their argument is that Measure J constitutes something called "regulatory taking." In layman's terms: you cannot restrict private property's uses when there's money to be made.the entire country is broken how can a big money oil company sue a country to let them put their lies at risk, while the republican counterparts try to remove health care that would be needed from the poisoning of the water and grounds with majority in both houses look for deregulated legislation to do just that 57,600 American lives are worth less than the potential projection of making 1.2 billion.
will republicans stand over those graves and chant in unison "drill baby drill"? it's criminal and has the potential of getting the right oil sympathetic judge to rule in their favor, just like in Al Capone's day.
