⇒ In April 2006 Excelaron was formed as a California small business for
the
purpose of exploring an existing oilfield in the hills west of the Huasna
Valley
located in a remote part of Mankins' Ranch.
⇒ On June 5, 2007 Excelaron submitted a formal Conditional Use Permit
application to the County of San Luis Obispo Planning and Building Department
to drill, test and produce four exploration oil wells.
⇒ A series of County-generated information requests and subsequent Excelaron
responses ensued for approximately eleven months between July 2007 and
May
2008.
⇒ On May 22, 2008, Excelaron conducted its first public outreach meeting
with
Huasna Valley residents.
⇒ Supervisor Katcho Achadjian was unable to attend the May 22nd public meeting
and in the name of public interest conducted his own town hall meeting
on
July 31, 2008.
⇒ To better provide project related information to the community, Excelaron
launched its website www.excelaron.net in early September 2008.
⇒ Based upon the original circulation route from the site, through the City
of
Arroyo Grande onto Highway 101, the City of Arroyo Grande held a special
City
Council meeting to discuss the project on September 15, 2008.
⇒ To make certain that all community voices were being heard, a second
Supervisor-sponsored town hall meeting was conducted on September 18,
2008.
⇒ Motivated by concerns expressed during the multiple public meetings,
Excelaron revised its project description to exclude travel on Huasna Road
and through the City of Arroyo Grande. Excelaron obtained a private access
easement through Porter Ranch to the south of the project site that would
provide access to Alamo Creek Road, Highway 166, and ultimately,
to Highway 101.
⇒ On September 25, 2008, Excelaron submitted a revised project description
and
updated environmental and technical reports to the County of San Luis Obispo.
⇒ On November 6, 2008, Excelaron hosted another public outreach meeting to
introduce the revised project description to the community.
⇒ On January 28, 2009, Excelaron executed the County’s Developer’s Statement
–
a contract between the applicant and the County describing all of the mitigation
measures and the applicant’s acceptance to comply.
⇒ Execution of the Developer’s Statement allowed the County to prepare the
Initial
Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration on February 4, 2009.
⇒ On February 23 2009, a Request for Review of the Mitigated Negative
Declaration was submitted to the County by the Huasna Valley Association
(HVA).
⇒ On March 3, 2009, Excelaron notified County staff that the company would
agree to conduct a full Environmental Impact Report under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
⇒ Excelaron met with HVA representatives on March 18, 2009 to discuss the
decision to fully analyze the project under CEQA and what issues and/or
concerns should be incorporated into the environmental review of the project.
⇒ Excelaron withdrew the original permit application on March 25, 2009 to
ensure that they can craft a new application addressing the concerns of
local
residents.
⇒ Based upon comments within the Request for Review from HVA, Excelaron
incorporated the community’s concerns, including designing and analyzing
field
development into the new project description. Beginning in March 2009,
the
environmental consultants have revised their individual analyses to reflect
the
concerns raised by the HVA and incorporate the project description changes
into their technical reports.
⇒ The revised project description includes a comprehensive discussion regarding
the proposed project phases: site preparation, exploration and testing;
construction of permanent facilities and long-term production; and finally,
should the exploration project become viable, field development.
⇒ The CEQA assessment section includes a review of the requisite CEQA issues,
provides a project setting section, describes potential impacts and offers
measures to lessen or eliminate any potentially significant impacts that
should
address the rest of the community’s concerns.
⇒ Excelaron has resubmitted a revised project description on July 22, 2009
to the
County Planning Department.
⇒ The San Luis Obispo Planning Department accepted Excelaron’s revised project
on December 16, 2009.
⇒ A Planning Commission Scoping Meeting was held on January 14, 2010
to select an environmental consultant to conduct the environmental
review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A second
opportunity for public comment will be held on March 29, 2010 in Arroyo
Grande.