Santa Barbara County Supports Offshore Drilling

Anytime offshore oil drilling is mentioned, environmental activists bring up the tragic 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. This spill was caused by a blow-out on a oil platform. The blow-out leaked 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, covering near-by beaches. This event galvanized public opposition to offshore drilling.

The 1969 oil spill was a tragedy. But the tragedy motivated oil companies to develop oil extraction techniques that minimize spillage and eliminate blow-outs. The technology has made major strides in the last 40 years. In fact, the technology has advanced so far that the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors recently voted to support offshore drilling. 

This is a stunning development, but it is obvious the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors understand how far oil development technologies have come. In a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger they wrote, "Since the traumatic oil spill in 1969, significant technological improvements on methods of extraction have been made which should appreciably mitigate such spills from happening in the future."

Oil is an important resource and with today’s technology we can extract it much more cleanly than ever before. It says a lot that Santa Barbara County, which bore the brunt on a bad oil spill, would now like to see additional offshore oil exploration and development.