Measure P: More Harm Than Good

Every time I see a news report about ISIS and its latest atrocities and military advances, I can’t help thinking about how vital it is for us to reduce our dependence on imported foreign oil. In the last decade, California has tripled the amount of foreign oil shipped in from overseas. Twenty percent of that comes from Iraq! So why on earth would we deliberately choose to deepen that dependence by approving Measure P, which would end up shutting down the onshore oil and gas production that has been safely occurring in Santa Barbara County since the early 20th century? The less oil and gas we produce here, the more we have to import from unstable and war-torn countries with far less stringent environmental regulations than we have. Measure P is a misguided and deceptive feel-good ballot initiative that will do far more harm than good.