Goleta Council Adopts Resolution Opposing Offshore Drilling

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/100908_goleta_council_adopts_resolution_opposing_offshore_drilling/

By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer

City leaders approve the modified version of a resolution put forth three weeks ago.

The Goleta City Council on Tuesday evening voted 3-2 to adopt a resolution stating opposition to offshore oil and gas production.

The resolution was voted in by Goleta Mayor Michael Bennett and City Council members Roger Aceves and Jonny Wallis.

It is the modified version of a resolution put forth three weeks ago that was postponed because mention of oil company Venoco’s facilities and operations were thought to potentially bias the State Lands Commission‘s review of Venoco’s application to expand its drilling operations.

The resolution was one of a series of responses to a letter sent by a Board of Supervisors majority to Gov. Schwarzenegger urging him to lift the state ban on offshore drilling.

“For us not to respond would be an acquiescence of agreement,” said Wallis, pointing out that the city adopted the county’s former stance against new oil operations, but could not agree with the change represented by the letter sent by the majority on the Board of Supervisors.

Still skeptical of the resolution were council members Jean Blois and Eric Onnen, who said that more research still needed to be done with respect to oil drilling and natural seeps that theoretically would decrease as a result of increased drilling.

“We certainly haven’t explored the full impact of production of oil related to our city,” Onnen said.

To date, the city of Goleta doesn’t receive any royalties from the oil company’s production in facilities in the Ellwood area.

Noozhawk staff writer Sonia Fernandez can be reached at .

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/100908_goleta_council_adopts_resolution_opposing_offshore_drilling/