Saturday morning marked the kickoff of an environmental group’s campaign to ban fracking, well stimulation, and other “high-intensity” extraction techniques on unincorporated county land. Gathering at Alameda Park at 10 a.m., more than 100 people heard from Assemblymember Das Williams — who commended the Water Guardians’ grassroots efforts — and speakers Katie Davis and Rebecca Claassen. “This is not the conventional oil we’ve been getting for hundreds of years,” said Davis, adding that 7,000 new cyclic-steam-injection oil wells are in the works, which, if approved, would triple the county’s total greenhouse-gas emissions. To place the proposed ban on the ballot, volunteers must gather more than 13,000 signatures within about five weeks.
