A recent letter in the Santa Maria Times touted the wonderful history and benefits of oil development in the Cat Canyon area. The writer criticized the "few" opponents of the proposed extreme-extraction projects in the canyon, which will triple the number of producing wells there. He also decries the "micromanagement" of the oil industry by several agencies.
To top it off, the writer claims that there has been no groundwater contamination by oil operations in the 100 years of production in the area. These three criticisms would be very impressive if they were accurate.
First of all, I've attended several gatherings in Santa Maria where 50 to 150 unpaid volunteers took off work to attend a hearing to oppose the above dangerous oil projects. Another similar number would have come if they could have managed it. Several thousand folks stuck their necks out and signed petitions against the recent extreme-extraction proposal in Cat Canyon.
Secondly, as a health inspector, I've inspected dozens of these facilities over the years, and rarely have I seen much strict enforcement, let alone micromanagement. Most regulators that I encountered did not want to disrupt oil operations and trod pretty lightly during inspections.
Finally, the writer is flat wrong about groundwater pollution by oil. Recent groundwater studies have found groundwater contamination by nearby oil-related activities in North County. The oil industry's self-serving groundwater studies don't look hard enough and miss pollution that other studies find.
Let's get the facts straight before we allow further poisoning of our precious water supply by new dangerous oil operations.
