Overview

In early 1965, Humble Oil and Refining Company Co. (now ExxonMobil) planned to expand to the West Coast by building an oil refinery in the heart of some of California's most beautiful scenic coastline. Its top choice: a quaint fishing village with a deepwater port at the midpoint of the Monterey Bay. Moss Landing was already designated for thousands of acres of industrial development, and Humble Oil expected to be greeted with open arms. Its supporters envisioned the oil giant opening the doors to more industry, development, and, of course, prosperity. This is the story of one of the opening battles of the modern environmental age. In a deeply divided community, Humble Oil got its permit to build, but it never would. Humbled: How California's Monterey Bay Escaped Industrial Ruin recounts the many twists and turns that swamped the refinery project and eventually dismantled plans for a vast industrial complex. Humbled captures in detail how a small environmental group bloomed into a mass movement, using every means at its disposal, from unique legal challenges to the cutting up of gas station credit cards as protest. Aiding Humble opponents' quest was one of California's foremost environmentalists in the state legislature, Sen. Fred Farr, as well as one of the nation's most renowned conservationists of the day, photographer Ansel Adams. Amid the battleground stood a badly divided Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors whose members blended conviction, courage and political wiliness. Today the Monterey Bay region is home to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Reserve, the majestic Monterey Bay Aquarium, California's state parks' ""crown jewel"" Point Lobos, and the breathtaking Big Sur coast. If Humble Oil had had its way, and industrial development had ensued in Moss Landing, all these wonders would have been impacted - and some would never have come to exist.

Full Product Details

9781735109206

Table of Contents

Reviews

The Humble Oil incident was the most consequential political battle in our area's modern history, and people need to know how these events saved local agriculture and preserved the natural beauty of the Monterey Bay for generations to come. - Congressman Sam Farr (Retired) It's hard to imagine what the Monterey Bay - now a national marine sanctuary - would look like today if locals hadn't taken a stand against Humble Oil in the 1960s. It was a time before environmental activism was a term, but the until-now unsung heroes in this story were prescient enough to see disaster looming if they didn't take action. Humbled shows how a few determined souls changed the course of history, and it should inspire all of us to keep fighting for environmental justice today. - Julia Reynolds, author of Blood in the Fields: Ten Years Inside California's Nuestra Familia Gang A sweeping epic chronicling circumstances and events that would have ruined the ecology of our region, were it not for the concern and vigilance of those who cared. - James Perry, Monterey County Historical Society executive director The environmental movement in Monterey County is perhaps among the strongest in the United States, and the authors put together a compelling narrative of its origins. A thoroughly researched account with excellent insights, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in Monterey County history. - Claudia Melendez Salinas, author of A Fighting Chance

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Countries Available