Supervisors Vote 3-2 to Request More Oil Exploration, Drilling

» Eric on 08.27.08 @ 12:41 AM

As a native Santa Barbaran, I’m deeply ashamed over this vote.  America is addicted to oil.  The cure is to go cold turkey, not raid Mom’s purse.  After the oil companys rape the ocean and over charge us for that priveledge, we’ll be back to paying Middle Eastern despots money for their terrorist war against us.  One thing not mentioned in any news is Santa Barbara always had higher gas prices than anyplace in the nation - $2 a gallon back in 1995.  It was cheaper to drive to Ventura to fill up.  And that’s with the off shore drilling that was already there AND an oil refinery just down the road.

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» SBReader on 08.27.08 @ 06:10 AM

It was troubling to read about this unfortunate vote in the Wall Street Journal and the NY Times and the spin they put on it. Fortunately for us who live here the real policy shift is that Firestone is gone and his crony Smyser couldn’t even make the runoff. That is what we here locally think of Firestone’s tenure and good riddance. We just have to be vigilant that he is not allowed to do any real harm in the few months he has left on the Board. Local politics does matter to our quality of life and it is now clear that our future and that of our children would be negatively affected if Firestone or Smyser was on the Board in our future. This vote doesn’t really mean anything and thank God Firestone doesn’t have many left!

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» Robert C. Meltzer on 08.27.08 @ 07:51 AM

Going “cold turkey” is a nice fantasy and probably achievable by a few people in this beloved tiny paradise that is the Santa Barbara reality distortion zone.  But the vast majority of U.S. citizens live in areas where driving to work is a requirement, not an option and where homes must be heated and/or cooled.  Many have jobs that require travel on airplanes, which require fuel to fly.  The country needs a realistic energy plan, not a bunch of single-issue “just say no” positions on drilling, nukes, etc.  California is the world’s 6th largest economy and imports over 60% of its oil needs, thus being a major contributor to the U.S.‘s dependence on foreign oil and therefore to the ongoing balance of payments problem, not to mention effectively exporting whatever problems drilling may actually cause to “the other guy” (nice, huh?).  Going “cold turkey” would cause immense economic dislocation and hardship to many millions of the U.S.‘s citizens and arguably trigger a worldwide economic depression.  So instead of just complaining, how ‘bout some proposed solutions?  Like well-run clean coal and nuclear plants for electricity, oil for fuel for cars and planes, wind where it makes sense (60 homes per windmill means maybe 500 windmills just for the city of Santa Barbara - where ya gonna put ‘em?), ditto for solar (not very useful around the Great Lakes where the sun disappears for 6 months every year).  “Just say no” is a good solution for drug addiction, not as an energy policy.

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» outraged on 08.27.08 @ 10:14 AM

What is most galling about this report is Centeno’s claim that he did it “for the little people” when everyone knows that the only benefit to come from lifting the moratorium will be the oil industry.  All the evidence and studies show that the cost of fuel will not go down because of this effort.  The letter was politically motivated in an election year by the three Republicans who sit on the board.  Shame on them.

Supervisors Carbajal and Wolf were right to send their own letter to show that this is not the will of the people of Santa Barbara County.

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» John Locke on 08.27.08 @ 12:15 PM

To “Eric”, the Santa Barbara native who is “deeply ashamed of this vote”, I, too am deeply ashamed.  Deeply ashamed of the self-centered inhabitants of California, particularly coastal California, who, while living in a state that imports for its own needs more oil than most countries, is willing to deny the rest of the United States access to California oil deposits that could break the Middle East stranglehold on energy supplies, while allowing the more practical citizens of the U.S. time to develop alternate supplies.  Get some perspective.

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» Chitchatananda on 08.27.08 @ 01:59 PM

Folks,
Please consider this. Our entire known US Oil fields constitute only about 3% of the worlds oil. Drilling here, production at least 2-3 years away, would at maximum production account for barely 1% of the oil we need to use.
One Percent, we are going to give up our coastlines and increase ocean pollution for 1%? (drilling decreasing seepage is specious) How can that help? We’ve already been told that just making sure tire pressure is correct can save us 3%! This is far, far from “energy independence”. This is losing precious natural environment for the enrichment of STOCK HOLDERS alone.
I totally understand the desires of those in support of this but please open your eyes, 1% is not even a dent, barely a scratch on consumption. The only ones who would profit from this are the oil companies and their minions.
Take a walk to our coastline and tell me you would trade that for gas being 4 cents (1%) lower a gallon?
Now to destroy any credibility I have…we have the solution NOW. Please Google “burn sea water”. Yes! A new invention uses radio frequency bombardment on sea water to weaken the molecular bonds, sea water burns at up to 3000 degrees! Folks don’t you understand; nuclear reactors only boil water. Coal plants: boil water, gas, oil, all of them just heat water and run steam generators! Watch this one be suppressed under a National Security gag order. It is THE solution.
THINK! AH, I see the original video has been removed but there are still plenty of articles. They are scamming you with fear people. T. Boone is right that this is the biggest transfer of wealth in history and they are bleeding us dry. Capitalism’s failure is that wealth concentrates and currency fails; devil take the hinder most (that is US people!)
  Thinker Chitchatanada

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» AN50 on 08.27.08 @ 04:24 PM

Some of these responses are right out of the whacky brigade. Your car will not be powered by a wind mill or solar power. The reason we have not had an alternative fuel for transportation is a matter of energy density not fuel type. For example, gasoline has an energy density of about 13,000watts/kgram, whereas the very best battery today only stores 150watts/kgram. Ethanol stores 85% of the energy potential of gasoline. So unless all the idiot talking point repeaters can invent something no one else has been able to do, then they ought to rethink their NIMBY, BANANA, N3 attitude. In other words come up with realistic solutions instead of burying your head in the sand (or whatever other dark orifice you use) and mumbling no all the time.

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» AN50 on 08.27.08 @ 10:14 PM

Go Robert! The only thing the alternative guys come up with is wishful thinking. Science? What the hell is that? They got rid of science along time ago when the academic community became dependent on government grants and tenure. Real science gets in the way of political expediency and ideological brainwashing.
BTW, I’m not a transplanted Midwesterner. I grew up in this state and as far as I’m concerned it was ruined by all the idiot hippies who came out here from back east, followed by the un-ending wave of European socialist worshipers who once they arrive instantly turn into NIMBY BANANA N3’s.

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» Colleen Beall on 08.28.08 @ 05:35 PM

If this short-sighted decision by the North County Board majority doesn’t demonstrate the need for a County split, then I don’t know what does.  The South County pays for the North County services and the North County in return wants to pollute our beaches.

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» Hope Ranch Honey on 09.01.08 @ 09:35 AM

I have a dog here who, 2 of the last 3 weeks, has come home from the beach covered in tar.  If drilling will help use the seepage I’m all for it.  The added benefit might be that America curtails paying foreign interests (who want to drop bombs on my children) for oil that we could be providing ourselves.

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