Santa Barbara County’s Board of Supervisors recently moved to ban oil and gas operations in Santa Barbara County and to phase out existing oil operations. I have some questions.
Except for a reduction during COVID, California’s demand for oil has been remarkably steady, and with the steady drop in California oil production during the last 30-40 years, there has been a steady increase in foreign oil imports. Iraq, Brazil, Guyana, Ecuador, Canada, Saudi Arabia and other countries provided 63.5 percent of California’s oil demand in 2024 (https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac).
How do environmental regulations in these countries compare to those in California? How do emissions and risk of spillage that are associated with shipping oil from the other side of the world compare to emissions and risks from locally produced oil?
The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where private citizens own mineral interests, which are considered real property. How is an oil production ban different from any other property condemnation? How will owners of mineral interest be compensated? Why would you prefer to pay large sums of money to hostile foreign governments than to local mineral owners?
How will this ban impact climate change since it does nothing to reduce demand for oil, and emissions associated with foreign produced oil will remain unchecked?
