The news can be super depressing. Over the first weekend of June, my inbox filled with law enforcement press releases about homicides, officer-involved shootings, and overdoses—all in Santa Barbara County, not some far off place like Baltimore. Some weeks are like that, and it’s hard to wrap my puny bird brain around why.
I know police shooting people has been a news-grabbing headline lately—it’s actually always a news-grabbing headline—and generally the police involved in the shootings always sound like racist maniacs. But instances like the ones outlined in recent press releases from local law enforcement tell an opposite tale: one where officers have guns pulled on them, and they’re forced to make a split-second decision. I think it’s worth noting that not all officer-involved shootings mean the police are the bad guys.
But it’s not only guns that have me depressed this week: It’s also the sudden flurry of bills flying out of legislative pants now that another beach has been sullied with carbon. How does that political saying go? Never let a good crisis go to waste, or something like that.
No doubt about it, our local legislators are on the case. It seems like esteemed Congresswoman Lois Capps is wagging her political finger at some federal agency or another daily, demanding answers and requesting oversight hearings. I guess it’s really no different than the normal slew of sometimes mind-numbing emails that political offices deliver to the media universe, but these one’s all have a theme—oil bad, we need answers:
“Capps questions Energy Secretary Moniz on pipeline safety”
“Capps calls on PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) for Plains oil spill answers”
“Capps requests federal oversight hearing in Santa Barbara to investigate Plains oil spill”
So, we’re good right? Capps is on the case. There’ll never be another oil spill again?
State Assemblymember Das Williams and state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson already have bills hurriedly penned, introduced, and waiting for amendments. One of those bills would require pipelines in environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas to use the best technology to reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill. This includes automatic shutoff technology, which Plains All American—the party who’s pipeline erupted all over Refugio State Beach in May—is repeatedly saying would have made the spill worse because of pressure buildup.
No one is listening to that statement. I sure don’t feel super comfortable with a bill requiring technology an oil company’s saying could make matters worse. I mean, Plains could definitely be blowing smoke all around to fog up the landscape and make things seem less black and white, but Mr. Williams, I think before you go around requiring shut-off valves in all ecologically sensitive areas, we should ensure that the technology is on the up and up.
One of Jackson’s bills would require annual oil pipeline inspections (How’s it possible we don’t already do that?) and re-establish the State Fire Marshal’s role in inspecting federally regulated pipelines (It’s funding shortfalls that cut that off in the first place, though, so where’s that money going to come from?).
So basically, our elected officials are throwing paper—well, gigabytes or megabytes or kilobytes, whichever one you prefer—at a problem with a sort of Band-Aid mentality. It almost feels like an excuse to make the news: “Hey guys, we’re really doing something about this.” Here’s a suggestion. Think it out before you pen a bill. A thoughtfully penned bill has more of a chance to do good in the world than one that was rushed to the table.
Science and funding shouldn’t be an afterthought. Those are the things that shut legislation down.
OK, here’s another depressing soapbox note for you. Lompoc city officials just signed a conditional contract with Polish entrepreneur Eva Blaisdell, and her company California Space Center LLC, which essentially gives her 90 days to come up with proof that she’ll tie up $300 million from backers in a neat little bow to build an amusement park on 82 acres of city property.
Now, maybe I’m a pessimist, and hopefully I’ll be eating crow—yuck, by the way—at the end of the summer, but I’m not super confident this is going to work out.
From the looks of it, the California Space Center in Lompoc can’t afford much more than a Facebook page at the moment, and these little contracts not working out are something the city has a bit of a track record with. But hey, Blaisdell said she’s already met with companies like IMAX, Apple, and Amazon, so perhaps one day the 3,000 jobs she’s promising to Lompoc’s unemployed will become a reality.
I wouldn’t bet on it for at least three months, though.
Enough of the depressing stuff though, here’s something that could make me happy: I’m not United Launch Alliance, which at the moment is embroiled in an appeals process because of a $30 million tax bill. Apparently, that’s what they owe Santa Barbara County in property taxes. At least, that’s what the county thinks because it reassessed the property United has at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The county says it’s worth $3.5 billion. United says it’s worth $619 million.
Tomato. Tomato.
Like I said, I’m just glad it’s not me.
The Canary is happy county tax assessors can’t put a property value on the big blue sky. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 11-18, 2015.
