In a reversal of decades of county policies and attitudes, the Santa Barbara County planning staff is advising the Board of Supervisors to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow more oil exploration and drilling off the county's shores.

A draft letter to the governor lists reasons that include a chance for the county to make money from taxes and royalties from additional oil production, the possibility of stimulating employment, and the prospects for increasing the nation's fuel supply.

As part of the scheduled two-hour hearing Tuesday, the supervisors will also receive updates on the county's progress in waste conversion and potential local development of wind, solar and wave energy projects.

But the focus will be on oil extraction and production in an attempt to take “an aggressive stance on the development of new revenues” and “assess potential energy resources to reduce dependence on foreign sources,” according to the staff report presented to the supervisors.

The issue was brought to the board by 5th District Supervisor Joe Centeno of Santa Maria and 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone of the Santa Ynez Valley.

“I think it's very interesting that we're looking at new information regarding oil exploration and extraction,” Firestone said. “We're not trying to solve the national problem or the problem of energy, but this is to examine the natural resource of oil as it effects the county.”

South Coast Supervisors Janet Wolf and Salud Carbajal voted against having the energy hearing when the date for Tuesday's meeting was set in July.

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“I'm disappointed that we're even having this hearing,” Wolf said Friday. “I don't see the reason for it.”

She also said that she had considerable concerns with the “troubling” letter to the governor.

After recent, much-debated budget cuts and with potential major expenses such as the proposed North County Jail and increased retiree benefits looming in the near future, staff members have been telling the supervisors that the county is in dire need of a new revenue source.

“It looks like they're looking for revenue streams in royalties and fees, but they need to weigh the cost versus the benefit,” said Nathan Alley, an attorney with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Center (EDC) in Santa Barbara.

The EDC brokered a deal between Plains Exploration and Production (PXP) and local environmental groups in April that allowed the company to drill new wells from its platform in federal waters off the coast of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

In exchange, PXP promised a full removal of all its oil extraction and oil production holdings by December 2022.

Although representatives of EDC and another local environmental group, Get Oil Out!, supported PXP's Tranquillon Ridge before the Santa Barbara Planning Commission, Alley said the groups would not be supporting an effort to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling.

“The difference with the Tranquillon Ridge project is that there would be minimal impacts to the environment ... whereas brand new facilities are a completely different story,” Alley said.

Firestone agreed that part of the impetus for the hearing was the county's need for new revenue, but he said that it was time to discuss offshore oil for other reasons as well, such as the impact on local oil seeps and the effects of new technology on oil production.

Wolf, who represents the 2nd District in Santa Barbara and Goleta, said she felt her constituents would not want more oil derricks off the coast of Santa Barbara.

“This is the point in time where we should really explore options for other energy sources and look to the future,” Wolf said.

More information and opinions on oil drilling from county staff, representatives of oil interests and a presentation from environmental groups will be heard by supervisors at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Betteravia Government Center at 511 E. Lakeside Parkway in Santa Maria.

Sam Womack can be reached at 739-2218 or swomack@santamariatimes.com.

August 24, 2008