It was inspiring to see the Santa Maria Government Center full of so many supporters of the ban on high-intensity oil operations recently. The vast majority of public comments were in favor of the ban, and almost every concerned citizen who spoke had certainly done their homework on topics such as oil spills and water contamination.
It’s beautiful to see such a well-informed, truly grassroots movement starting up in our county. In the name of conserving and protecting the limited water supplies available to us as citizens of Santa Barbara County, I hope everyone votes this ban on fracking and other high-intensity oil operations into law come November.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 3, 2014.