SBCAN urges you to submit a public comment in OPPOSITION to ExxonMobil's dangerous offshore platform restart and trucking proposal this week.
Written public comments are due by NOON on Friday, March 4th. Submit your comment by emailing [email protected] or add your name to this petition.
Stay tuned for information about how to speak up at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, March 8th.
There are three main reasons SBCAN and dozens of other environmental and social justice groups are opposing this project. Feel free to draw from these points for your own public comment.
1. The climate crisis. Santa Barbara is already experiencing the effects of climate change - sea level rise, wildfires, drought, mudslides - and it is only going to get worse. We cannot afford to let ExxonMobil restart their offshore oil platforms and create even more emissions that will exacerbate the climate crisis.
2. Risk of an oil spill. ExxonMobil is proposing to truck 70 trucks and 460,000 gallons of oil per day along Santa Barbara County's winding roads, highways 101 and 166. Over the last 5 years, there have been 5 oil spills along the route they are proposing. Just last year an oil tanker crashed and spilled over 4,500 gallons of oil into the Cuyama river. This project puts our coast, wildlife, and marine environment at risk of another devastating spill.
3. Trucking is dangerous. Trucking crude oil along the Gaviota Coast and Highway 166 will result in unavoidable safety and environmental risks. This is already a dangerous route with an above average number of accidents compared to other highways. Much of highway 166 does not have access to cell service, making it difficult and dangerous for the first responders who will have to respond to the increased accidents along this road due to the increased traffic from this trucking project.
Below is a map of the proposed trucking route showing where accidents have occurred, courtesy of the Environmental Defense Center.
Also, see this opinion article written by our Advocacy Director, Nadia Abushanab, refuting ExxonMobil's economic arguments for the project.
Make sure to have your voice heard! Thank you for speaking up to protect our environment.