Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production title=
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production
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Source: Environmental Defense Center

Santa Barbara County faces a tripling of onshore oil production. Three oil companies are proposing to drill and operate over 700 new wells in Cat Canyon Oil Field, posing dangerous threats to clean air, clean water, public safety, and our climate. What’s more, these oil companies are not proposing conventional oil drilling, which is risky enough, but rather they are seeking permits for extreme, enhanced oil extraction processes known as cyclic steam injection and steam flooding, which are far riskier and more energy intensive than traditional drilling. The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) has just received $10,000 in grant funding from the Fund for Santa Barbara to help confront this major threat.

EDC is representing the Sierra Club Los Padres Chapter, Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN,) and its own members to fight what has been called the most significant environmental justice issue to confront the County in decades. The projects pose significant threats to our climate, use enormous quantities of water and toxic chemicals, such as for acidizing, and jeopardize public health for local communities. Additionally, these projects will destroy native habitats, endanger wildlife, remove native oak trees, and generate over four hundred tanker truck trips every day on local roads. And finally, the oil companies seek to get around federal drinking water protections to dispose of their toxic waste into aquifers, and to streamline permitting under the Endangered Species Act, threatening the recovery of federally listed species.

“These destructive and irresponsible projects have united a broad coalition of social justice and environmental organizations,” said EDC attorney, Tara Messing. “These are enormously complex cases, requiring significant resources, and confronting very powerful corporate interests. EDC is grateful for the support provided by the Fund for Santa Barbara.”                        

The three projects are being proposed by Aera Energy, which is jointly owned by affiliates of Shell Oil and ExxonMobil, Terracore (formerly ERG), and PetroRock, and each on its own timetable.  EDC and its clients and partner organizations have been working to oppose these massive and dangerous oil projects since early 2017. Thanks in part to information and questions EDC has raised before the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission, Terracore’s project has been delayed, but within the next few months, we can expect to see Aera and Terracore back in front of the Planning Commission and then the Board of Supervisors for a decision. PetroRock has yet to release a draft environmental impact report for public comment.

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a-1580508021
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Jan 31, 2020 02:00 PM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

Here’s an abbreviated version of this article: “dangerous threats, risky, extreme, riskier, major threat, significant threats, jeopardize public health, destroy native habitats, endanger wildlife, toxic waste, threatening, destructive and irresponsible, massive and dangerous“. That there’s a lot of negative juju.

Chip of SB
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Jan 31, 2020 04:13 PM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

Mac, I suspect you typed that on a keyboard made from petroleum products, wearing clothing made from petroleum products, sitting in a chair made from petroleum products, on a carpet made form petroleum products, etc. Quick search found a list of some of the many wonderful products that petroleum makes possible. https://whgbetc.com/petro-products.pdf

Byzantium
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Feb 01, 2020 12:38 PM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

If negative climate-nag juju could be converted into positive energy production, mission would be accomplished. Except climate-nags must remain remain perpetually grumpy, in order to keep their negative juju a sustainable energy source..

Chip of SB
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Jan 31, 2020 02:09 PM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

This proposal does not even call for the construction of dozens of 500 foot tall structures that slaughter wildlife. Apparently that is a requirement to get support for a large scale energy project in this county.

PitMix
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Feb 03, 2020 10:09 AM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

As opposed to the large numbers of wild creatures that get slaughtered every day on our highways? Elsewhere on Edhat is a story about a dead bobcat on 217. 2 bears killed crossing the 154 several years ago by casino customers. Let's compare the numbers and see which is doing more slaughtering.

a-1580516600
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Jan 31, 2020 04:23 PM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

EDC seems to thrive on fear mongering. Unfortunately, they are money-grubbing hustlers who have an eager market here in SB...where nearly no one uses public transport. They have RUINED my adulthood. Sad.

a-1580585572
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Feb 01, 2020 11:32 AM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

Extraction is one thing, but Fracking is bad. You would have to be an idiot to think injecting chemical steam far into the earth to break up and extract fossil fuel is an acceptable method. Where does that waste water go? This process is so bad for the environment, bad for groundwater and bad for areas near fault lines. It is unbelievable we have been allowing it and continue to do so. We have to move away from this type of extraction. Yes we need oil but not this way. I hate windmills and I drive a truck, so don’t call me a bunch of crazy names. You have to be able to see the whole picture, fracking should not even be in the frame.

a-1580589216
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Feb 01, 2020 12:33 PM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

4:23 - you described many local non-profit operations; not just EDC They ultimately exacerbate problems, not solve them. Their primary goal quickly becomes keeping the grant and donor money flowing and their own administrative jobs secure. And generate downstream problems which negatively impact the rest of us, why they ride from one shallow victory to the next. I am sure you can name other local issues which also cannot be "solved", simply because of their calculated interference. For some reason there is over-supply of these ultimately disruptive non-profit organizations in this strange little town, who are allowed to operate with no program accountability.. The mood of this city will need a significant ideological change reflected in our local elections to repair this disconnect. You are not alone in your thinking. Soon this political shift will show in our local elections. I suspect this will happen sooner rather than later as the new generation arriving here daily will no longer accept this post-hippy era status quo.

PitMix
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Feb 03, 2020 10:03 AM
Nonprofit Receives Grant to Help Prevent Local Oil Production

Ruined, you're letting the EDC have too much power over you. By the way, the more than 6,000,000 passengers riding the buses in 2016-2017 (last data set I could find) means your statement about no one using public transport is Trumpian in nature. But you will be glad to know that ridership is down over the last 5 years because more people are driving and using fossil fuel.

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