The first County Planning Commission hearing on ERG's Final EIR is this Wednesday in Santa Maria.
For the last several years, SBCAN has been commenting on the three big on-shore oil projects being considered by our County. We have written to you many times to alert you to the dangers of these projects. Groundwater basins, surface water courses, air quality, habitat for endangered species, and much more are at risk. The first of these projects to be considered by the County Planning Commission is ERG's proposal and it will be heard this Wednesday, March 13, 2019.
The Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. in Santa Maria at the County's Betteravia Government Center, 511 E. Lakeside Parkway. The item will come up after 10 a.m. and public testimony will be heard for sure at 1 p.m. and likely through most of the afternoon. Some testimony may be heard before the lunch break. Testimony can be given in Santa Barbara at the Planning Commission's hearing room at 123 E. Anapamu St.
A rally to oppose the project is planned for 8:30 a.m. in front of the Betteravia Government Center; we hope you will attend.
We also hope you will sign up and give testimony to encourage the Planning Commission to direct staff to prepare findings for denial for consideration at a future Commission meeting. We are dismayed that County staff has recommended approval of the project. We need your help to urge the Commission to deny the project.
The Final Environmental Impact Report is deficient in many ways and should not be certified. Despite its deficiencies, the FEIR contains enough information for commissioners to consider outright denial. Denial does not require certification of the FEIR.
Click here for a letter prepared by Environmental Defense Center and signed by 39 organizations, which provides some succinct points that you might consider incorporating into your testimony. Click here for the letter SBCAN submitted, which is focused on certain issues we have been writing and testifying about for some years now.
If this isn't enough, go to the County's website, http://sbcountyplanning.org/boards/pc/cpc_documents.cfm?DocID=22861
where you can read the agenda, the whole FEIR and no less than 930 pages of comments (almost all urging denial) sent in for the Commission's consideration!
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.