BlogaBarbara

Santa Barbara Politics, Media & Culture

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

City of SB Votes to Support Oil Moratorium

From the EDC -- Sara

Santa Barbara, CA: Last night the Santa Barbara City Council voted to support the federal moratorium on offshore oil leasing. On a 5-1 vote, with the seventh member of the Council submitting a note in favor of the moratorium, the Council reaffirmed its longstanding opposition to oil development offshore of Santa Barbara. Several Council members expressed the urgency and import of their vote in light of the pending Congressional debate on the issue and the media attention given to the County Supervisors’ vote two weeks ago asking Governor Schwarzenegger to support new oil development offshore Santa Barbara.

As noted in the Memorandum presented to the Council by Mayor Marty Blum and Councilmembers Helene Schneider and Das Williams,

The national media surrounding the August 26, 2008 Board of Supervisors 3-2 vote reversing the County’s position that supported the continuation of the federal moratorium on new oil and gas leases in federal waters makes it necessary for the City of Santa Barbara to re-emphasize its commitment to energy independence and support of the federal moratorium on new oil exploration, drilling and production in the Santa Barbara Channel.


The resolution adopted by the Council notes that “the City of Santa Barbara is the site of the devastating oil spill of 1969 that led to the forming of the modern environmental movement and Earth Day worldwide.” Santa Barbara based Environmental Defense Center staff attorney Nathan Alley pointed out that the 1969 oil spill first led to new laws requiring the federal government to develop 5-Year Lease Plans and then to the first Congressional moratorium in 1982.

The resolution also points out that “City of Santa Barbara residents have long opposed new oil and gas drilling off their coastline.” The Council read from a six-page memo listing 52 resolutions passed by the City since 1974, opposing offshore oil development and supporting various state and federal moratoria and other actions.

“The City’s vote sends a strong message to Congress that Santa Barbara remains steadfastly in support of the federal oil moratorium,” said Linda Krop, Chief Counsel of the Environmental Defense Center. “Santa Barbara is on the record once more as standing up for coastal protection and a clean energy plan for the future.”

The resolution will be sent to Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Congressmember Capps, Governor Schwarzenegger, Assemblymember Nava, State Senator McClintock and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Bill Carson said...

Who!? Who voted no? And who didn't vote?

9/10/2008 9:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dale Francisco voted "no"; Roger Horton was absent but sent in a note supporting the resolution.

Wasting tax dollars doing what probably the majority of their constituents support? ...I, a Santa Barbara city voter, don't think so.

9/11/2008 11:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dale Francisco voted no, and Roger Horton was absent, but sent a note indicating his support for the resolution. Not moronic, for once council was standing up for years of precedence and clear thinking. And they did not allowing the waters to be muddied, so to speak, by the SOS seeps people waving their red herrings. Even the UCSB scientist they kept quoting to justify their position showed up to disagree with their wrong-headed misuse of his findings. Not usually a fan of Council, but this time they did the right thing.

9/11/2008 3:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, this is absolutely SHOCKING, Sara......

9/11/2008 4:54 PM  
Blogger Sara De la Guerra said...

Ha! LOL. No, I don't call it news -- I call it a press release the EDC sent that would be interesting for people to see.

BlogaBarbara should not be considered a news site although there is an element of reporting. I make no pretense of breaking news like I am running a newspaper...and one should never mistake a press release reprinted that might be interesting to some people as such.

9/11/2008 10:34 PM  

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