Oil, oil, oil was the topic of discussion at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 26. The board cleared its departmental agenda of other items in order to devote its full attention to a public hearing assessing the ongoing energy crisis and its impact on Santa Barbara County.
At the heart of the hearing was the board’s pending decision on whether or not to send a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in which the supervisors would request a change in state policy to allow the expansion of oil exploration—especially offshore drilling—in the county.
The board heard presentations from county staffers and several representatives of pro- and anti-oil organizations describing the current state of oil and natural gas production in the county.
The board also listened to comments—both for and against the expansion of oil exploration—from 80 speakers, including environmentalists, economists, and concerned citizens.
Heavy on the minds of everyone involved was the disastrous 1969 spill that dumped approximately 80,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Santa Barbara.
However, Supervisor Brooks Firestone (3rd District) was eager to express his stance on the issue, stating: “Since 1969, this county has had certain views on oil. But since then, there have been significant technological and procedural advances.”
Firestone said that in the midst of the ongoing energy crisis, he feared that the concerns of Santa Barbara County would get lost among the concerns of the nation. Many of those concerns were articulated in a draft letter to the governor, which reported that increased oil exploration “would immediately have a depressing effect on the international price of oil, to the benefit of our country.”
The letter also argued that an increase in oil exploration would have “an important beneficial effect” on the local and state budgets, and would create more jobs and stimulate the economy.
Some of the information used to support those claims comes from organizations such as Stillwater Associates, a privately run energy advisor, and Mineral Management Services, the federal agency responsible for inspecting offshore drilling facilities. Representatives from both organizations were present at the hearing.
However, a handful of individuals—including Supervisor Salud Carbajal (1st District)—spoke out against the letter and urged the board to reconsider its options.
Carbajal cited recent findings: Between 2002 and 2005, two large electrical transformers on an offshore oil and gas platform in the Santa Barbara Channel leaked nearly 400 gallons of fluid contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls. He added that there was no way to guarantee that companies wouldn’t allow such leaks in the future.
Firestone was quick to ask the representatives if there was “any other country in the world that conducts as thoroughly regulated inspections” as the United States. There answer: “No.”
Still, many members of the public remained wary about allowing the expansion of oil exploration off of the county’s shores.
John Abraham Powell, president of the local environmental group Get Oil Out! (GOO), expressed his disappointment with the board, stating that many of the findings used in the draft letter to the governor were based on “oil industry-sponsored science perversion.”
“I am appalled that you would consider expanding oil exploration in the place known for the birth of the modern environmental movement,” Powell said.
As of press time, the board had not yet made its decision on whether or not to send the letter.
For more information about the hearing and copies of the presentations made to the board, visit www.countyofsb.org.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2008.