After a morning of epic deliberations, the Board of Supervisors took the first step of what promises to be a protracted and historic pivot to pull the plug on all onshore oil development anywhere in Santa Barbara County. This Tuesday, the supervisors narrowly approved—by a 3-2 vote — a ban on any new onshore oil drilling.
The last time a new drilling proposal was approved took place in 2014.
Since all onshore oil production takes place in North County, the vote predictably followed the board’s traditional north-south split. This week’s vote was strategically tailored to ban only new drilling proposals, but in meetings over the past two years, the board majority had clearly indicated its intentions stop all existing onshore oil operations in the years to come as well…