Tag archives: oil
Come celebrate Bettina’s 7th Birthday with a week of specialty pies, including the famous clam pie! Keep an eye out on Instagram to see which daily specials they drop. Supervisors Vote to Begin Ending Onshore Oil in Santa Barbara County In a 3-2 vote Tuesday, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors moved to phase […]
A renewed legal and political firestorm is brewing off the Central Coast as federal authorities and fossil fuel companies push to restart oil production at the long-shuttered Santa Ynez Unit (SYU), while local environmental groups and Santa Barbara County mount legal resistance. The U.S. Department of the Interior has hailed the project’s revival as a […]
MF Chief David Neels has announced the Wildfire Preparedness Meeting with local public safety partners on Thursday, June 26, at 6 pm at Montecito Union School. The MFD with the Montecito Water District, Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, neighboring fire agencies, and local community organizations will discuss how […]
This week, Santa Barbara chose courage over complacency. Our county Supervisors took a bold leap forward, fueled by the support of a majority of county residents, to ban new oil and drilling operations in Santa Barbara County and initiate a plan to phase out existing oil operations. This vote wasn’t just a policy move; it […]
It was three against one at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, May 13, as the board weighed the future of oil and gas in the county. In a 3-1 vote, the supervisors passed a motion to prohibit new oil and gas drilling and phase out existing operations in the county. […]
In what appears to be a huge gain for environmental and coast organizations locally, on Monday, May 5, 2025, the City of Carpinteria Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the inconspicuously titled, “Project 21-2128-DP/CDP” – a Development Plan and a Coastal Development Permit to decommission and remediate the Carpinteria Oil and Gas Processing Facilities under […]
On March 13th, activists and community members clad in red gathered at the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), holding signs that read “Don’t Enable Sable” and “Oil Spills Kill.” They were there for a press conference, which preceded an anticipated town hall meeting hosted by District 37 State Assemblymember Gregg Hart and District 21 State Senator […]
Hundreds gathered outside the Santa Barbara County Administration Building on the morning of Tuesday, February 25th. The focus of the day was the Board of Supervisors meeting, where they were to consider the appeals to the County Planning Commission’s (CPC) approval of Sable Offshore Corporation’s application for a change in owner, operator, and guarantor for […]
Nearly 10 years ago – on May 19, 2015 – a corroded pipeline near Refugio beach burst, and at least 142,800 gallons of crude oil flowed down a culvert and into the ocean, contaminating one of the most biologically diverse areas of the West Coast. Over 300 dolphins, seals, sea lions, pelicans and other animals […]
Following the huge funding of $500,000 to Heal the Ocean (HTO) by State Assemblymember Monique Límon, and an additional $105,000 donated from the Mericos Foundation, work has started on the Summerland Oil Mitigation Study (SOMS). The lead project managers are Ira Leifer of Bubbleology Research International in Goleta, and HTO’s Harry Rabin. Their first foray […]
The continued efforts to contain the abandoned oil wells in the Pacific Ocean offshore to Summerland Beach took a new stride on Monday, August 14, at 10 am with the arrival of new capping methodology and the start of a 3D geological study titled, “Summerland Oil Mitigation Study” (SOMS), to fully map the oil reservoirs, […]
As most know, our County’s complete lack of ethical standards is something I have raged against. While other counties have a Code of Ethics (something that our Grand Jury recommended in 2020), our County blissfully dances in the darkness without pesky little rules relating to the timing of campaign contributions, acceptance of gifts, hiring of […]
A mysterious oil slick in the waters off Summerland Beach continues to be closely monitored by multiple agencies, while beach access remains closed to the public. According to Summerland Citizens Association Board President Phyllis Noble, the oil slick, which appeared earlier this month following heavy rains, now appears to be breaking up and no additional […]
Exactly one month from this issue’s publication, the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) will be having a 45th anniversary celebration at its headquarters in downtown Santa Barbara, a special community gathering that marks the first public event in the space in three years. Think of it as a one-shot revival of TGIF!, the environmental organization’s much-beloved […]
I look forward to reading the studies that the Montecito Water and Montecito Sanitary districts have jointly commissioned, one by Carollo Engineers to evaluate recycling options and the other by Raftelis to explore the pros and cons of a business case for district consolidation. The need for recycled water supplies is rather self-evident. The self-evident case […]
With Putin’s attack on Ukraine, many of us wrote to President Biden to ask him to cut off Russian oil imports, even if it meant a rise in prices and/or rationing. In my message I called on him to speak to the American people to sacrifice for a greater good. I talked of how my […]
Last week’s editorial identified the five top concerns facing the residents of Montecito as (1) Safety and Security from future fire, flood, and earthquake; (2) Rebuilding Public and Private Infrastructure; (3) Protecting and Preserving the Semi-Rural Character of Montecito; (4) Traffic Gridlock in Montecito; and (5) Water Securityand Water Independence from future drought. Identifying challenges […]
A Burning Issue Do they read the Montecito Journal in distant Hope Ranch? I hope so.For several months oil has been seeping out of the bluff between Hope Ranch and the beach and it is hot enough that it is burning underground. There have been repeated efforts to stop it by burying it but this […]
The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) presented another of its nautical lectures, this time about the 1969 oil blowout and the birth of the environmental movement. Fifty years ago I was living in Europe, but even without cell phones we knew about the disaster in Santa Barbara, California. A blowout on Union Oil’s platform A […]
SOS California, the acronym for Stop Oil Seeps, celebrated the 11th year of its founding with a socially gridlocked bash at the University Club. Co-founder Lad Handelman, describing himself as an “environmentalist,” said he had spent 15 years of his life supporting marine mammal and other resource protection. “I see myself as being a reality-based […]
