At its Jan. 11 meeting, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with a proposal to tighten regulations for noncompliant on-shore oil drilling companies.
If approved, the ordinance would amend the county’s Petroleum Code to change what constitutes a “high risk” facility, and clarify the offending facility’s clean-up requirements.
The ordinance calls for reducing the spill thresholds of high-risk facilities from 25 barrels to 15, and the number of unauthorized spills from three to two. County staffers are also recommending that there be overall audits of facility operations and clearer schedules for clean-up completion.
While discussing the proposal, 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal said he approved of many of the recommended changes but asked the staff to include language about cumulative spills.
“What happens if [a facility] is having a 14-barrel spill every day?” he asked. “If you’re having a 14-barrel spill every day, it’s likely you’re going to have a really big spill.”
Another matter Carbajal raised was the status of the county’s database for monitoring on-shore spills and other violations. The supervisor asked if the software in use had been abandoned because of budget shortfalls.
County staffers reported that the oil-
spill tracking software is currently working, but it needed to be updated, and possible future budget shortfalls could jeopardize the program.
Newly sworn-in 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino asked why county staffers felt the need to exceed federal regulations for on-shore oil spill thresholds, to which a representative replied: “Spills of a lesser value can have significant impacts” to county health and the environment.
The only person to speak during the public comment period was COLAB director Andy Caldwell, who said the board “needs to have a perspective [on on-shore oil production] instead of looking at industry as if it’s evil and needs to be contained.”
Oil, he said, is “an organic, naturally occurring chemical … but we treat it like it’s Kryptonite.
“What you’re trying to regulate is dwarfed compared to what’s happening off-shore” through natural seepage, he said.
The board voted to continue the matter to its Feb. 1 meeting.
This article appears in Jan 13-20, 2011.