Sharp, Dan. “Technically Recoverable Oil in California Monterey Shale Severely Downgraded : Energy News.” Bismarck Tribune. Bakken Breakout, 29 July 2014. Web. 23 Aug. 2015.
The long-term growth of California’s oil industry was dealt a serious blow when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) downgraded the recoverable reserve estimates in the Monterey shale formation. With the production of oil and natural gas declining, California refiners are depending more and more on Alaska and South America for supplies. The shale was highly fractured and criss-crossed by faults which lead to a misjudgement of the amount of oil available there.
This is a win for the Environmentalists in California because it discourages oil exploitation in California and saves our environment a little bit. Although oil is still being imported from other places nad therefore still being used up and still destroying our atmosphere, the land and habitats that would have been destroyed by the oil fields are not going to happen because of this newfound doubt in the amount of oil available. There is now a greater need for renewable energy technologies because everyone is beginning to realize that oil is not going to be in production forever and will run out sooner than we originally thought.