Joyce Howerton of Lompoc has retired as executive director of Santa Barbara County Action Network (SB CAN), with the vacancy filled by Ken Hough, the advocacy organization announced.
Howerton, a former Lompoc mayor and recent candidate for 4th District county supervisor, worked for SB CAN for nearly three years, first as advocacy director and then as executive director.
“Joyce Howerton has been a political leader and activist in North County for decades,” said Joann Marmolejo, SB CAN’s board president. “... Joyce was a founding member of SB CAN and served as North County vice president for many years.
“Joyce says she would like to take a break for a while, but will soon return to community life. We welcome her continued involvement with SB CAN,” Marmolejo added.
A sparse crowd turned out Thursday for a public hearing on Santa Maria Energy’s proposed oil and gas drilling project in the Orcutt hills.
The hearing, held by the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department, focused on the recirculation of the air quality section of the proposed final environmental impact report for Santa Maria Energy’s oil and gas drilling and production plan for its project on the Careaga Lease south of Orcutt. Citing concern about the project’s projected greenhouse gas emissions, the Planning Commission ordered recirculation of the document with a proposed 50-percent reduction threshold for GHG.
The project calls for drilling 110 new wells on the lease east of Highway 135 and using cyclical steam injection to extract oil. It has a 26-well pilot project already in operation.
It will use recycled water from Laguna County Sanitation District that will be piped to the lease and flare gas from its own wells to produce the steam.