ExxonMobil’s three offshore platforms in Santa Barbara County, including Hondo, above, have been inactive since the Plains All American Pipeline disaster in 2015. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors last week denied Exxon’s application to truck oil.
I see the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has denied ExxonMobil’s application to truck oil, even though it is allowed per their permit if there is no viable alternative. As the pipeline will take 14 years to repair, when it should have been done in 14 weeks and the Board of Supervisors said no to trucking, I guess we will soon see the OS&T and tankers back offshore as the “viable” alternative or the board majority will find themselves in court explaining why they changed the permit terms, or both.
Or, to mitigate the traffic hazard on State Route 166, how about using some of the billions being extorted in gas tax and registration fees to widen the highway to four lanes?
Planning and Development staff recommended approval based on the facts. The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission then voted to deny the project based on politics and ordered staff to change the facts to fit the political narrative.
The board majority then voted to use the new “facts” and made up a few of its own to justify its political narrative in denying the project. How Putin-esque of them: Ignore the facts, ignore staff and forge ahead to further your own political ambitions.
What’s next? Maybe invalidate the building permits for our houses and require they be retrofitted to modern green codes? Absolutely disgraceful!
Curt Warner
Santa Maria
