Action Alert August 21, 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. And please forward to your friends and others who are interested in creating sustainable communities through sound planning that integrates housing, open space and transportation-our HOT principles. News in brief: 1. URGENT! Your attendance needed at the BOS Hearing on Energy Crisis / Oppose lifting off-shore oil drilling ban, August 26, Santa Maria 2. Update: BOS Meeting on Gaviota Coast Issues 3. Breeze Bus Service Expanded and Extended 4. MTD Fare Increase public hearing, September 8, Santa Barbara 5. Check out SB CAN's new improved website 6. SB CAN Column - "Don't be duped by Big Oil & Friends" 7. Other Community events: Bread & Roses dinner Look for SBCAN Endorsements & SBCAN's fall Harvest Picnic details in next Info & Action Alert!!! 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, 9am WHERE: Betteravia Government Center, 511 E. Lakeside Parkway, Santa Maria (South Coast remote viewing and testimony: The County Administration Building - 105 East Anapamu Street in SantaBarbara, 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. Update: BOS Meeting on Gaviota Coast Issues The Board of Supervisors, at the request of 5th district supervisor Centeno, held a special meeting devoted exclusively to Gaviota Coast issues. This extraordinary session reflects the importance of Gaviota Coast issues and the necessity to formulate a comprehensive plan for the preservation of the Gaviota Coast. After receiving a briefing by a deputy at the Planning and Development Department, and receiving a report from members of the Gaviota Coast Study Group, over 40 people offered the Supervisors their views on the need to protect the Gaviota Coast, and how to do it. Several community organizations including the Gaviota Coast Conservancy, the Naples Coalition, and the Gaviota Coast Study Group made presentations. SB CAN is a member of the Naples Coalition The Board ultimately voted 3:2 to direct the CEO's office to investigate and report back to the Board on: 1) funding mechanisms to preserve the Gaviota Coast, and options the County may have; 2) the costs of updating the 1982
Gaviota Coast activists supported the Board's actions. Phil McKenna, SB CAN member and President of the Naples Coalition stated: "The Board of Supervisors agreed on the need to preserve the Gaviota Coast, and directed staff to bring back additional information on how to do it."
3. Breeze Bus Service Expanded and Extended
Following years of effort to justify expanding public transit in the north county, SB CAN and community activists lauded the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors action today expanding the Breeze Bus service fromLompoc up the Santa Ynez Valley to the cities of Buellton and Solvang. This expansion was in response to 2008 public testimony and legal pressure over the annual diversion of transit funds earmarked under the Transportation Development Act to road use by the Cities of Lompoc, Santa Maria and the County of Santa Barbara.
The second action by the Supervisors today was a contract extending the original Breeze service (betweenSanta Maria, Lompoc and Vandenberg Air Force Base) for an additional 6 years.
4. 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 SBCAN, PUEBLO and COAST in advocating for FAIR fares.
5. Check out SBCAN' s New, Improved Website
We have revamped our website to make it a more informative place to visit and more fun!. We have postings of HOT news from county-wide sources, which we will be updating weekly, along with action alerts, and information about past and upcoming SB CAN alerts.
You can also renew your membership or donate online at www.sbcan.org.
This is a work in progress, so some pages are still under construction. Stop by and visit often to find out more about what's going on across the county.
6. 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.
7. Other Community Events: Bread and Roses
WHAT: 15th Annual Fund for Santa Barbara's Bread & Roses Dinner
WHEN: Sunday, September 14, 4pm-8pm
WHERE: QAD Training Center, 2111Ortega Hill Road in Summerland
Tickets are $65 in advance (available ONLY through Thursday, September 11th) or $75 at the door. Sliding Scale Tickets are available.
Tickets, sponsorships and donations may be made via check, cash or credit card (VISA or Mastercard). Please call (805) 962-9164 for more information or to pay by phone.
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Olivia Uribe, SB CAN Associate Director
805-563-0463 / olivia@sbcan.org
Date:
21 Aug 2008 - 11:21pm