• On May 8, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California), U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), and Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) joined Environmental Defense Center Chief Counsel Linda Krop and other local environmental leaders to rally against the Trump administration’s restart of offshore oil platforms owned by Sable Offshore Corporation along the Gaviota coastline. During the Santa Barbara press conference, Schiff emphasized that Sable Offshore has “blatantly” disobeyed directives from California agencies that are required for offshore oil and pipeline operations. “It’s just a thrill to breathe in the ocean air, to enjoy this incredible beauty around us, and to think that it is now being threatened again by reopening this damaged pipeline,” Schiff said at the conference. “That caused such damage in 2015, resulting in $22 million of losses, but more importantly, the loss of marine life, the loss of the coastal economy here, the injury to small businesses. … This is really a national issue. And I think moving off of fossil fuels and moving to renewable sources of energy is … a national security imperative.” In April, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge refused to end an injunction preventing Sable from restarting the pipeline—an injunction that the company is now “openly violating,” the Environmental Defense Center stated in a May 7 release.
• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) hosted a town hall in Grover Beach on May 4. Held at the Grover Beach Community Center, the meeting’s topics included Carbajal’s ongoing work to address the cost of living, as well as the war in Iran. In a statement the following day, Carbajal said he appreciated “the honest stories and questions I heard last night, whether about the recent cuts to SNAP, ICE raids, or holding Trump accountable for his abuses of power.” He added: “These conversations are exactly what inform my work and ensure that the priorities of our community drive the debate in Washington.” The Tribune reported that about 150 people attended the town hall, including more than a dozen protesters who called on Carbajal to not accept campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Among the protesters was Ojai resident Helena Pasquarella, who is running against Carbajal for the 24th District seat in June’s primary election. In response to Carbajal’s verbal commitment at the town hall that he wouldn’t accept anymore AIPAC money, Pasquarella described his comment as “too little, too late” in a May 7 statement. “This position shift comes three years and 70,000 Palestinian deaths too late, and Salud still hasn’t proven that he’s committed to an Anti-Zionist position,” Pasquarella stated. “The military-industrial complex and AIPAC thrive within the context of bipartisanship, and Salud personifies how and why both defense contractors and the government of Israel play both sides of our political aisle.”
• On May 5, U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) co-introduced the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act with an aim to crack down on petroleum market manipulation and protect consumers from unjustified price spikes at the pump. This legislation would create a new Transportation Fuel Monitoring and Enforcement Unit at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to proactively monitor fuel markets for fraud, manipulation, and anti-competitive behavior that can artificially inflate prices. “At a time when Trump’s unauthorized war with Iran is driving up costs, we need stronger oversight to ensure oil companies and traders aren’t exploiting the moment to pad their profits,” Padilla said in a statement.
This article appears in May 14 – May 21, 2026.