Ed. note: The following are all of the letters about Measure P received between our Oct. 14 press deadline and the deadline for this, the issue of Oct. 21. This opinion section–and its regular commentaries and Canary columns–will return to normal after the election season ends.
What will Measure P supporters attack next?
My family has deep roots here in Northern Santa Barbara County. We own land which has been used for farming and ranching since the 1860s, and which has had oil production since the 1920s. This county is a beautiful place to live with a wonderful climate, a place where agriculture and the oil business have always been respected professions and have worked together to provide a better life for everyone in the county. People always seemed to appreciate the benefits of locally produced food and of locally produced oil. Together, both agriculture and the oil business have worked to provide a strong and well-balanced economy for the county as a whole, and for the North County in particular.
Now, we are under attack. The Water Guardians and their supporters are accusing the oil industry of creating great risk for the county because of fracking, and what they call “extreme” production methods. First, let’s get this straight: Oil companies do no fracking here. Second, the methods the Water Guardians describe as “extreme” are cyclic steaming and acid treatment, both of which have been used on our properties for more than 50 years, safely, and with none of the ill effects they warn of. Oil production has been, and remains, a good partner for ranching and farming families.
Measure P is a real threat to ranchers and farmers. Despite what its backers say, it has the very real potential of shutting down all oil and gas production in the county. While they claim the exemption process will protect existing operations, it looks to be complicated, time-consuming, and expensive; just because an exemption may be possible does not necessarily mean it will be achievable. Shutting down gas and oil production will have drastic negative effects on local farmers and ranchers. It will reduce property values and income by taking away our property rights. If Measure P is successful, what will they attack next?
This is not what I want for our county. I am voting no on Measure P. Please join me and many of our friends in agriculture in voting no on Measure P.
Roy Reed – Santa Maria
Measure P will protect Latinos
In response to “Measure P is racist” by Marlin Brown (Oct. 2):
Measure P, if passed, will protect our air, water, and way of life here in Santa Barbara County. Those who erroneously claim that Measure P would hurt Latinos are very much unaware of the historical trend of putting the most environmentally toxic projects in working class neighborhoods under the assumption we won’t stand up for our right to clean air and water. If Measure P doesn’t pass and when our water becomes contaminated through risky fracking, who will suffer the most? The people who cannot afford expensive water filters, the children who don’t have the luxury of drinking bottled water and naively drink from the tap. If Measure P doesn’t pass, Latinos will face the brunt of the damage from the practice of these risky oil extraction methods.
The oil industry will survive Measure P. However, if Measure P doesn’t pass, there is an industry that won’t survive: agriculture. When water becomes contaminated through reckless methods like fracking, we can kiss our thriving agriculture economy goodbye, and along with it thousands of agricultural jobs primarily held by Latinos.
So, it is up to you, the well informed voter! Don’t let the oil companies’ scare tactics make you vote their way. Please read the facts of Measure P, and when you go vote at the polls on Nov. 4, vote yes on Measure P. You will be helping and saving the environment for future generations.
Salvador Gascón – Santa Maria
The real scope of Measure P
Measure P is an unjustified attack on any form of oil operations in Santa Barbara County. Measure P supporters claim oil extraction causes a wide range of environmental damages. We keep asking them for evidence of such harms; none was ever made available. It often seems these people live and act in a bubble. They always fail to point out the advantages the oil sector brings to the county starting with the thousands of jobs created and the great amount of revenue taxes that benefit every public sector. They fail to realize they use many products that require some form of hydrocarbon. They also fail to admit that Santa Barbara has one of the strictest regulations in the country, and the oil industry is already intensely scrutinized for environmental and safety regulations. They keep saying we do not need this oil, but remember the old adage, “be careful what you wish for.” Are proponents of Measure P prepared to offer up training or new jobs for those affected by the passing of this measure? Is Santa Barbara County financially prepared to handle the impact the measure would have in the community, the county, the state?
Many people in this county rely heavily on the oil industry to survive; join me in saving thousands of jobs; join me in putting more Americans to work.
Ali Fakhreddine – Santa Maria
We use oil every day
Oil has many uses, and like it or not, we are dependant upon this commodity until technology gives us a better choice. There are more than 6,000 products that we use every day that are made from petroleum products. No on Measure P assures oil will be available for its many uses.
Myron Battles – Pawnee City, Neb.
Stand against deceit
I was recently watching Das Williams perform in support of Measure P in a television ad. What amazes me more than anything, whether you are for or against the measure, is the amount of deception in the ad. The first untruth is that the measure is designed to ban “fracking” (hydraulic fracturing). There is no fracking being performed in Santa Barbara County, and there never will be because the strata is already fractured by nature. How do you ban something that doesn’t exist nor will ever exist by nature?
The second untruth is that it will not affect existing oil operations and their respective jobs—that existing permits are not affected. Did he forget that permits have expiration dates and need to be renewed? If Measure P passes, those permit renewals will be denied, resulting in the shutdown of all oil and gas operations. This is the true intent of the measure, and the proponents continue to spread falsehoods about this effect. If for nothing else, vote no on Measure P because of the incredible deceitfulness of the proponents.
Steve Thomas – Santa Barbara
Stop special interest groups
I’d like to weigh in and say Measure P never should have been written!
Our elected officials can make intelligent decisions, and we trust them to be true to their constituents they serve. Let them do their job for goodness’ sake.
While we in the USA strive for utopia, other oil-rich countries reap the economic and social benefits from oil industries. We put them in place decades ago with our technology and ingenuity, and it’s time to bring it back home.
I am a retired firefighter and grew up in Huntington Beach. Back in the ’70s, I lived on Goldenwest Street and Palm Avenue. The oil fields next door were pumping, and my parents bought their home for $37,000. I cruised by there not long ago and saw the same oil fields still operating. There were no large derricks, no foul smell, no potholes in the road from trucks, and everyone seems to be getting along fine. Home values have soared regardless of the oil industry being next door. In fact, Huntington Beach was such a success because of oil; the local high school I attended was dubbed “Home of the Oilers” out of respect for their contribution to the city.
Vote no on P and stop special interest groups! Don’t let them mire the board of supervisors and the county down with costly litigation. I know they are concerned because it took six years from inception to implementation for 19 wells on our Santa Maria land, which my family has owned since the late 1800s and which was the site of previous oil operations in the 1960s and ’70s. It’s a state-of-the-art operation that successfully coexists with endangered tiger salamanders.
Lance Erickson
We need Measure P!
The fight over Measure P is a David vs. Goliath battle. To date, the “no” campaign has raised $5.6 million, virtually all of it from oil companies, much of it from oil giants; the “yes” campaign has raised barely $300,000, most of it in small contributions from people like you and me. This gigantic imbalance alone should tell us whose interests are at stake and who is out there trying to buy an election! This flood of money is financing a flood of advertising that is awash in untruths and misrepresentations. It is not true that Measure P will shut down existing oil production; it is, therefore, also not true that Measure P will eliminate jobs, nor is it true that Measure P will bankrupt the county and cripple fire and police. Finally, it is also not true that Measure P is poorly written and will not survive in court, a red herring even the Independent has swallowed. Measure P was written by a team of highly experienced environmental lawyers and lawyers familiar with the drafting of propositions. It is legally sound.
What is true, however, is that we absolutely need Measure P. Yes, expanded oil production through enhanced recovery techniques may produce some tidy profits in the short run, but those profits will not go into the pockets of poor people in North County, nor even into county coffers. They will go to the oil companies (why do you think they are fighting Measure P so hard?!). Yes, expanded oil production will create some jobs, but those jobs will not go to unemployed or underemployed people in North County, but they will go to people who will come in from elsewhere to do specialized work. Worst of all, there may well be a boom in the making, but it will be a short-term phenomenon, and what will happen after the boom is over? Go to a place like Taft in Kern County and see what the oil boom has left behind: a devastated town marked by poverty and environmental destruction.
Most of all, however, we absolutely need Measure P if we finally want to get serious about addressing global climate change. The scientific verdict is in: Climate change is happening, and the release of pollutants from fossil fuels is its primary engine. We no longer can stop the train, it has left the station. But we can slow it down and prevent climate change from taking on proportions that would be truly disastrous. However, we have to act now, act quickly, and act decisively. So far, the preferred recovery technique of “tight oil” in the North County has been cyclic steam injection, which produces four times more of the dangerous pollution than normal pumping techniques. That is bad enough. Far worse, however, is this: To bet on a new oil boom will simply distract us from what we must do, which is to concentrate on investing in the development of green, sustainable energy. Doing anything else would truly be fiddling while Rome burns! The good news is that development of alternative energy would produce local jobs, and it would be an investment in the long-term future.
Karl L. Hutterer, PhD – Santa Barbara
Yes, Virginia, there is fracking in Santa Barbara County
Your little friends in the oil industry are wrong.
Contrary to their anti-Measure P propaganda, fracking is legal in our county, and they know it. Oil companies have fracked in the past, and they still can apply for permits now. Planning and Development staff will process these fracking applications, and if three county supervisors vote “yes,” it will happen again.
Their endlessly repeated slogan that “there is no fracking” is a carefully crafted half-truth designed to mislead voters. They are deliberately trying to give the false impression that it is not allowed and cannot happen. Sometimes they are so disrespectful of the truth that they come right out and falsely say that fracking is prohibited.
Measure P is based on the truth that fracking is allowed in Santa Barbara County, and Measure P gives the public the right to stop this extreme oil extraction process before the problems that have affected so many others happen here.
Don’t know who to believe? Call County Planning and Development at 568-2000 and ask them if fracking is prohibited or allowed by the ordinances in Santa Barbara County today.
The out-of-town oil industry reportedly is spending more than $5 million broadcasting disingenuous statements like this one in their attempt to trick the public into voting against its own best interests.
Ben Franklin said, “Half a truth is often a great lie.” Let’s not be fooled.
To protect the public’s interest in clean air and water, vote yes on Measure P.
Grace Feldmann – Santa Barbara
This article appears in Oct 23-30, 2014.