An aerial view of the POST-preserved Cowell-Purissima property on the coastside that supports a recreational trail and local family farm.
Proposals to demolish oil wells abandoned in the 1970s and a hunting cabin south of Half Moon Bay on Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District property go before county planning commissioners Wednesday.
The open space district proposes demolition for the wells and cabin at the 240-site east of Cabrillo Highway off Verde Road. The property was previously used as farmland and rangeland for livestock.
The parcel would be maintained as open space.
Leigh Ann Gessner, spokeswoman for the district in Los Altos, said the land will be part of the proposed Purissima-to-the-Sea regional trail.
“It was the final piece of the puzzle,” she said. “This restoration is part of a larger project to provide public access to coastside open space.”
A farming family transferred the property to the district in 2019, Gessner said.
Onshore commercial production in San Mateo County began in 1886 in the Half Moon Bay area, according to a county general plan. Many oil wells were developed and later abandoned over the years, the plan said.
Oil was discovered near Purissima along the coast in the 1880s but hopes of an oil boom ended when only 20 barrels a day were produced, according to a history of the former community near Highway 1 and Verde Road.
Lennie Roberts, legislative advocate for the Committee for Green Foothills in Palo Alto, said the wells whose demolition county commissioners take up Wednesday, started drilling in the early 1970s.
The price of oil skyrocketed because of the Arab oil embargo in that era, Roberts said.
Oil drilling’s past in San Mateo County is not well-known — and the output was minimal, she said.
“It produced a trickle of oil,” Roberts recounted. “We didn’t have that much underground oil in San Mateo County.”
“We’re really happy to see these old wells being abandoned,” she said. “We don’t want to see more oil wells drilled in San Mateo County.”
The abandoned oil site includes above-ground storage tank and oil production piping and oil processing. A total of 3,000 gallons of light crude oil would be removed and disposed.
The commission meets 9 a.m. Wednesday at 401 Winslow St. in Redwood City.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 106
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Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
CoastalBoy said:
cube_corner said:
Better hurry up and increase spending soon! We can't allow a surplus.
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