World Heritage Site The Wilderness Society considered the Carrizo Plain as a nominee for
World Heritage Site status. Only two other locations in
California –
Redwood National Park and
Yosemite National Park – have received this status. This idea was greatly opposed by The Independent Petroleum Association and the residents of the nearby city of
Taft, while supporters of the nomination included the City of
San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo
Chamber of Commerce, and the San Luis Obispo Chapter of the
League of Women Voters. Advantages of World Heritage Site status for the Carrizo Plain might have included increased tourism for the plain and surrounding areas, greater ability to attract private and public funding for
habitat conservation and
sustainable tourism, and increased management support. However, opponents of the nomination were concerned that World Heritage Site status would create problems for oil production, grazing rights,
off-road recreation, and
private property rights. One point of controversy was a buffer zone around the monument; opponents expected that this would adversely affect nearby oil drilling sites. Some residents were also fearful of international organizations that would monitor and report on the monument's compliance with World Heritage treaty obligations, because maintenance of World Heritage status would depend on compliance with the 1972
Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, ratified by the United States. The widespread belief was that the United States would lose
sovereignty over the area. The Wilderness Society ultimately decided not to nominate the Carrizo Plain National Monument for World Heritage Site designation, as nominations require near-unanimous support.
Oil drilling While the Carrizo Plain is dotted with dry holes drilled and abandoned by oil companies in decades past, no commercially viable quantities of petroleum have ever been found on the plain itself. Small amounts of drillable oil have been found south of the Caliente Range, near the
Russell Ranch Oil Field, and in the northeast part of the Temblors, abutting the giant
McKittrick and
Cymric fields. As the plain is adjacent to the super-giant oil fields of Kern County – the
Midway-Sunset Oil Field, third largest in the United States, is on the other side of the Temblor Range – the Carrizo Plain has long been considered to have at least a moderate potential for oil development. As it is separated from the major oil fields by the
San Andreas Fault, and the underlying
source rock, the
Monterey Formation appears not to have been buried at the right conditions of temperature and pressure. Because the stratigraphy has not favored petroleum entrapment, oil accumulations of economically recoverable quantities have not been found. Vintage Production, a subsidiary of
Occidental Petroleum, owned the mineral rights to 30,000 of the monument's . When oil prices spiked in 2007, Vintage notified the
U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of its intentions to find out if oil is contained in the Carrizo Plain. The mineral rights owned by Vintage pre-existed the monument's creation by President
Bill Clinton in 2001. The BLM approved an oil well and pipeline project in the Russell Ranch Oil Field within the monument in 2018, but withdrew it after Los Padres ForestWatch and the
Center for Biological Diversity filed objections citing the potential for oil spills, air pollution and harm to wildlife, among other environmental concerns. The BLM approved the project in 2020 after its analysis showed that the new well posed no undue health or safety concerns, had no significant environmental impacts, and was consistent with management directives for the monument. An agreement was reached in 2022 over a lawsuit against the BLM filed by the conservation groups in 2020. The BLM issued an order to E&B Natural Resources to permanently close and remove 11 long-dormant oil wells, return the oil pads and more than of access roads to natural conditions, as well as removing pipelines, powerlines and other infrastructure from within the monument.
Solar power The remote Carrizo Plain's status as one of the sunniest places in the state was exploited by the
solar power industry from 1983 to 1994. This was by far the largest
photovoltaic array in the world, with 100,000 of the photovoltaic arrays producing 5.2
megawatts at its peak. The plant was originally constructed by the Atlantic Richfield oil company (
ARCO) in 1983. During the
1979 energy crisis, ARCO became a solar energy pioneer, manufacturing its own photovoltaic arrays. ARCO first built a 1-megawatt pilot operation, the Lugo plant in
Hesperia, California, which is now closed. The Carrizo Solar Corporation, based in
Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought the two facilities from ARCO in 1990. Still, oil prices never rose as predicted, so the solar plant never became competitive with fossil-fuel-based energy production. Carrizo Solar sold its electricity to the local utility for between 3 and 4 cents per
kilowatt-hour. In comparison, a minimum price of 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour would have been necessary for Carrizo to break even. Another photovoltaic facility was planned for the site by the Chatsworth Utility Power Group, with an output of 100 megawatts; it would have been many times larger than the existing facility, but it never progressed beyond the drawing board. The Carrizo Solar Company dismantled its facility in the late 1990s, and the used
solar panels are still being resold worldwide. In October 2007, the
Palo Alto company
Ausra, doing business as Carrizo Energy, filed an application for a 177 MW (
peak)
Carrizo Energy Solar Farm (CESF) on adjacent to the previous ARCO site. Instead of photovoltaic cells (as used by ARCO), however, Ausra will use
Fresnel reflectors that concentrate solar energy onto pipes in a receiver elevated above the ground. Concentrated solar energy boils water in a row of specially coated stainless steel pipes within an insulated cavity, producing saturated steam. The steam produced in the receivers is collected in a series of pipes, routed to steam drums, and then to the two turbine generators. Steam from the steam turbines is condensed to liquid water and then returned to the solar field. Electricity from the steam generators will be used in San Luis Obispo county. Local opposition to some
solar farm proposals centers on concerns about height above grade, noise and heat plume. The solar field would have operated daily from sunrise to sunset. Typical operating hours for the CESF would have been approximately 13 hours per day, totaling 4,765 hours per year. In November 2009, the project was canceled. On August 14, 2008,
Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced agreements to buy the power from two proposed photovoltaic plants in the Carrizo Plain,
Topaz Solar Farm and
High Plains Ranch, with a combined peak power of 800 MW. If built, these will be the world's largest photovoltaic plants. As of November 2014
Topaz Solar Farm is operational, with peak power of 550 MW.
California Valley Solar Ranch opened in 2013.
Grazing Few issues regarding the CPNM have been as controversial as
grazing. The internal dispute in the
Bureau of Land Management created national headlines when Marlene Braun, the first Monument Manager of the CPNM, died by suicide in 2005. An investigative article by
Los Angeles Times reporters
Julie Cart and Maria LaGanga revealed that Braun discussed grazing extensively in correspondence just before her death. The proclamation for the Carrizo Plain National Monument addressed grazing, but its language is similar to that of other proclamations. The proclamation directed BLM to manage grazing in accordance with existing laws and regulations. Braun chose to allow
Taylor Grazing Act allotments to expire and replace them with free-use permits. This action was opposed by many ranchers and Braun's field office supervisor, Ron Huntsinger. Her practice, which would allow BLM to set stocking rates each season rather than guarantee them for 10-year periods, was contrary to the
Department of the Interior's desires under President
George W. Bush. Bakersfield District Office Manager Ron Huntsinger was brought in to oversee a continuation of the Taylor Grazing Act permit system. Braun and Huntsinger clashed repeatedly, and Braun faced the prospect of stiff penalties for
insubordination at the time of her death. The
LA Times, in a follow-up article by Julie Cart, said, "What began as a policy dispute – to graze or not to graze livestock on the fragile Carrizo grasslands – became a morass of environmental politics and office feuding that Braun was convinced threatened both her future and the landscape she loved." The monument manager's suicide brought "into stark focus the difficulty BLM managers had in trying to balance the demands of providing protection in accordance with the proclamations and balancing the multiple use mandate of FLPMA." ==See also==