His family (Brown) may own some mineral rights in Northern California, but the action is south, in Kern County, where I grew up. That's where my extended family has some mineral rights (my great grandfather speculated a little in oil).
Brown may have had officials from the CA Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) do a little research for the area where his family has mineral interests, but no way does he have the power to get energy companies to offer to lease any minerals his family might own. The geologists employed by the energy companies call those shots.
In the current low-oil-price environment, energy companies are being very conservative about making capital investments such as drilling new wells, etc.
If Kern County, CA were a state by itself, it would be the fourth largest oil producing state in the country.