SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif- The Coastal Commission is in town for a 3 day meeting, and it could shut the door for good on PG&E's seismic surveys on the central coast. The commission made some revisions to its findings to deny PG&E's application, which will be voted on.
Now a group, "Citizens Opposing Acoustic Seismic Testing" or C.O.A.S.T will be there to try and rally the commission to stop seismic surveying all together.
C.O.A.S.T. has gotten its wish, PG&E will not be running high energy seismic surveys this year, but the group isn't satisfied. C.O.A.S.T. says PG&E has been using outdated permits for its low energy surveys it preformed in 2010 and 2011.
"They have used utilized an antiquated permit that has not been updated according to the MPA's and a whole variety of things," said Many Davis, a Spokesperson for C.O.A.S.T. "All of the low energy work was preformed under existing and valid permits, that were in fact issued by the State Lands Commission, and prior to performing the work we consulted with a number of agencies," said Blair Jones, a Spokesperson for PG&E.
Those permits were issued in 1984. The State Lands Commission is reviewing the permit now and is in the process of updating its other geophysical permits. The group also says low energy seismic studies have been the reason for displacement of fish, but PG&E said there were no impacts during their time in the water. "While this work was preformed over the last several years there was no impact to marine life or the environment and in fact the fishermen enjoyed record fish catches in the areas while this work was underway," said Jones.
The group won't stop there; they want to end acoustic seismic testing all together. "We are asking for a complete suspension of all seismic acoustic testing in the state of California until an appropriate investigation and research project has been done focusing on the cumulative impacts of acoustic seismic testing," said Davis.
