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Action Alert, August 24, 2008
Santa Barbara County Action Network
INFORMATION & ACTION ALERT
Greetings SB CAN members and friends! Please take a few moments to review the upcoming events and news. Here they are in brief:
1. URGENT! Your attendance needed at the County Board of Superivisors Hearing on Energy Crisis / Oppose lifting off-shore oil drilling ban, August 26, Santa Maria
2. Breeze Bus Service Expanded and Extended
3. SB CAN Column - "Don't be duped by Big Oil & Friends"
Look for SB CAN Election Endorsements &
SB CAN's Fall Harvest Picnic details coming soon!!!
Now the Details:
1. BOS Hearing on Energy Crisis / Oppose Lifting Off-shore Oil Drilling Ban
WHAT: Board of Supervisors Hearing on State and National Energy Crisis
WHEN: Tuesday, August 26, 9 am
WHERE: BetteraviaGovernmentCenter, 511 E. Lakeside Parkway, Santa Maria
(SouthCoast remote viewing and testimony: The County Administration Building - 105 East Anapamu Street in Santa Barbara, fourth floor hearing room)
County staff is recommending that our Supervisors send a letter to the Governor calling for a change in policy to lift the offshore oil ban in Santa Barbara County. Your presence is urgently needed to oppose sending this letter.
Some local groups want to lift the ban on off-shore oil drilling, and they are expected to show up in full force at this hearing. They've been arguing that lifting the ban will reduce the cost of fuel and stop natural oil seepage along the coast.
However, evidence shows that off-shore oil drilling will have NO impact on fuel prices now and insignificant impact in 2030 when the oil would finally hit the global market. In addition, drilling could increase natural seepage rather than reduce it, according to the Venoco Environmental Impact Report.
It is our responsibility to protect our coast. It is VITALLY important that people who want to protect to our coast attend the hearing and oppose lifting the ban. Please join us at this important hearing!
2. MTD Fare Increase Public Hearing
WHAT: MTD Board Hearing on Fare increases
WHEN: Monday, September 8, 2008
WHERE: MTD Business Office, 550 Olive Street. Santa Barbara
Due to a rise of cost in fuel, MTD is facing a challenge in maintaining service and a balanced budget, which is why they are looking to increase fares in the very near future. It is our job to advocate for FAIR fares!
It is important to show community involvement in the process, at a time when such a decision can affect all those who ride the bus out of necessity, or out of a choice for alternative transportation.
The current single fare is $1.25 but MTD staff is considering raising the fare to $2.00. Other pending decisions include raising senior & disabled passes, as well as monthly passes, and interregional bus service fares.
Join SB CAN, PUEBLO and COAST in advocating for FAIR fares.
3. SB CAN Column - "Don't be duped by Big Oil & Friends"
Every second and fourth Friday, an SB CAN column appears in the Looking Forward column in the Santa Maria Times. Our columns also appear in the Lompoc Record and at Noozhawk.com. You can read recent columns posted on our website www.sbcan.org under "SB CAN Editorials."
The following column was printed in the Santa Maria Times and at Noozhawk.com. It will appear in the Lompoc Record on August 25.
Don't be duped by Big Oil & Friends
By Deborah Brasket, SB CAN Executive Director
Lately everyone from President Bush and John McCain to local groups like Committee to Improve North County (INC) and Stop Oil Seeps (SOS) has been talking about the need to lift the ban on off-shore oil drilling. They claim that lifting the ban will relieve pain at the pump, beef up reserves, and stop natural oil seepage. Don't believe it. As one pundit put it, this is just Big Oil & Friends' version of a new kind of WMD scare: "wells of mass deception." Don't believe the myths they are peddling about off-shore oil drilling.
Myth # 1 - Lifting the ban will lower prices at the pump now
This simply isn't true. A report by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) states "access to the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017." Even by 2030, according to EIA, we would see only a 3% increase in US oil production, only a 0.2% increase of world production. This would be too small to have any significant effect on the price of oil or gasoline, says EIA.
Myth # 2 - Improved technology eliminates worry about new off-shore oil spills
The claim is: "not a drop of oil" was spilled off-shore during Hurricane Katrina. Facts prove otherwise. According to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), offshore producers released an average of 6,555 barrels of oil a year from 1998-2007, a 64% increase over the previous ten-year period. In addition, MMS reports that the Hurricanes Rita and Katrina caused 124 offshore spills, dumping a total of 743,700 gallons into the oceans. While technology has improved, "oil is a dirty business", as one oilman acknowledged. Natural disasters, human error, and corporate neglect (think Greka), can and do offset any improvements in technology.
Myth # 3 - Off-shore oil drilling will reduce natural oil seepage
Stop Oil Seeps (SOS), a new local group funded by Venoco Oil, insists that off-shore drilling will reduce the natural oil seepage that is harmful to the environment. There is evidence is to the contrary, however. Drilling could actually increase seepage by increasing pressure via the injection of water and gas, according to the Venoco Environmental Impact Report. It explains how "with additional production from different formations, water injection will increase and could produce a net inflow of fluids into the Monterey formation (or other seep producing formations), which could produce an increase in seep activity" (Section 4.1, p. 4.1-28).
Off-shore oil drilling is not the panacea touted by Big Oil & Friends, but yet another ploy to boost profits for oil companies, prolong our dependence on oil, and delay the development of renewable energy. For example, Exxon Mobil earned a record profit of $11.7 billion last quarter alone, and most of that went to buy back stocks to boost profits rather than for oil exploration or development of renewable fuels. Clearly the oil industry's interest in drilling off-shore has more to do with increasing profits than solving the energy crisis.
The County Board of Supervisors will be discussing the "Energy Crisis", August 26, in the Santa Maria Government Center. Join SB CAN in making it clear that we don't buy into Big Oil & Friends' new WMD scare. We won't sacrifice our shorelines and wildlife to feed their greed. The way to energy independence and relief at the gas pump is to conserve fuel, expand mass transit, and develop renewable energy as quickly as possible.