A San Luis Obispo County environmental review is scheduled to start soon regarding a request to double the amount of oil pumping one company can do in the Price Canyon area.
Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan wants to add 350 new wells and replace roughly 100 existing wells in what's known as the Arroyo Grande Oil Field northeast of Pismo Beach.
The company estimates the project could create 50 to 60 new jobs over the life of the drilling operation. None of the new wells will involve hydraulic fracturing—or fracking.