Letters To The Editor

The May 15, 2019, Lompoc budget workshop was another seance in budget perfidy. The “triad” of Lompoc City Councilmembers Jim Mosby, Dirk Starbuck, and Victor Vega were at it again, nickel-and-diming the budget to get it cut so it will be balanced—again at the cost of city services—but refusing to directly consider a 1 percent […]

Many spoke at a recent Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors hearing on ExxonMobil’s proposal to restart oil production off the Gaviota Coast. Among them was Andy Caldwell of COLAB (Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, and Business). He said that if the oil doesn’t come from local sources, companies will still find a way. “It will […]

Let me remind Jan Lipski (“We need solutions,” May 9) that both houses had a Republican majority for two years under President Barack Obama and for two additional years under the current administration, and no legislation was passed on immigration reform even though a majority of voters agreed that it was needed.  The complicated mess […]

Let’s put this in perspective: The fine levied by Judge James Herman against Plains All-American Pipeline, based in Houston, for the 2015 Refugio Oil spill was $3.3 million. Plains’ revenue during the last quarter was $8.79 billion. That comes out to more than $4 million per hour. In one hour, Plains made more money than […]

Karen Garcia wrote an excellent article on the personal heartbreak that is the result of immigration policies and enforcement that has been given the wink and nod for more than 40 years (“After deportation,” April 25). Congress needs to do something about this now. Actually it should have been done yesterday. President Trump has offered […]

When will the Central Coast really get going on protecting our climate? Some folks are doing everything they can. Most of us, though, are either picking at climate solutions or pretty much ignoring this catastrophic and looming problem. We are still burning fossil fuel like it is going out of style. With our mega pickups […]

I’d like to say a word about torture. We hear a lot about it these days; it’s all over the news. We recoil at the thought of torture. And yet, every single, solitary day, we are all being tortured. Now, you may wonder, “How is that?” And that’s probably just because you haven’t yet realized […]

Remember, as a child, how we delighted when we saw dandelions in the lawn? Possibly our parents gave us an allowance if we pulled them with a tool. Remember how weeds would pop up in the sidewalk and we’d use a knife to clear them from the cracks? It took time. We had to bend […]

To quote Forest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.” The Santa Maria City Manager’s Office and the transportation department decided to change the Breeze bus leaving the Transit Center at 6:20 a.m. to now leave at 6:10 a.m. Why? The Colt bus in Lompoc changed schedules in November 2018. It used to stop at the […]

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 […]

Increased seismic activity is only one of many inevitable potential dangers from the expansion of oil drilling in the Santa Maria Valley. ERG, Aera, and PetroRock all intend to use cyclic steam injection to pull the heavy, thick crude from the ground, which requires the re-injection of wastewater. Wastewater injections are considered to be responsible […]

After reading the final environmental impact report and the staff recommendation regarding the ERG application for expanded oil development in Cat Canyon, I spoke with Mr. Errin Briggs, the energy specialist in the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department. Our conversation was enlightening and troubling. First of all, the consultant that provided the analysis […]