Amid the county’s evaluation of proposed oil and gas projects, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is set to discuss whether to pass a resolution supporting proposed federal legislation aimed at curbing climate change.
At the supervisors’ meeting on May 21, 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, with 1st District Supervisor Das Williams’ support, made a motion to discuss a proposed Green New Deal at the county’s June 4 meeting.
In her support of the measure, Hartmann discussed her time as a student in Germany, comparing the remorse felt by students whose parents and grandparents were Nazis to what future generations could feel about their predecessors not taking action to address climate change. Later in the meeting, she clarified and more thoroughly explained her analogy.
“There is a huge looming threat,” Hartmann said. “We can be in denial, and we can move quickly from denial to despair. We have a narrow window in which to act.”
This motion followed a public comment period where 10 speakers called on supervisors to support the Green New Deal, which was proposed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) in February.
The Green New Deal calls for various actions to limit climate change, such as requiring the U.S. to rely solely on renewable and zero-emission energy sources within a decade. Although local resolutions to support a Green New Deal would be purely symbolic, one of the speakers at the meeting with the environmental group Sunrise Movement Santa Barbara said the resolution would show unified support from the county.
“Santa Barbara calling for the federal government to pass a Green New Deal will demonstrate widespread popular support for the necessary and just climate action,” speaker Alloy Zarate said.
Green New Deal supporters also called on supervisors to do more at the local level, including blocking the advancement of more oil and gas projects in the county. The county is currently reviewing a proposal from ERG to develop 233 new oil wells in Cat Canyon. A third public hearing for the project is scheduled for Aug. 14 in Santa Maria.
While supervisors Williams and Hartmann expressed support for the Green New Deal, 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam didn’t.
After contentious dialogue at the meeting—including Hartmann’s Nazi analogy and speakers calling out Adam and 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino for accepting campaign funds from oil and gas companies in the past—Adam said he hopes supervisors and the public can maintain a level of mutual respect during the June 4 conversation.
“I’m kind of deeply saddened by this whole discussion, and I hope that we can maintain a level of civility as we go through this that’s appropriate,” Adam said.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 6, 2019.