CIPA Mobilizes in Santa Barbara as Supervisors Vote 3-2 to Ban New Oil and Gas Wells

Despite strong opposition from CIPA, local oil workers, royalty owners, agricultural interests, and North County residents, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to prohibit new onshore oil and gas wells and the reentry of previously abandoned wells.

Supervisors Laura Capps, Joan Hartmann, and Roy Lee voted for the ordinance amendments, while Supervisors Steve Lavagnino and Bob Nelson opposed them. The action represents the first phase of the County’s broader effort addressing onshore oil and gas production. A potential second phase would target existing and idle operations after completion of an amortization study. Read Noozhawk’s coverage of the hearing and 3-2 vote.

CIPA mounted a substantial grassroots response to the proposal, helping coordinate approximately 60 oil workers, royalty owners, company employees, and other industry supporters to attend the Santa Maria hearing. Many testified directly before the Board about what the policy means for their jobs, families, businesses, and property rights.

CIPA’s message throughout the campaign was straightforward: California still needs oil, and banning its production in Santa Barbara County does not eliminate that demand. It instead closes the door on future local production and increases pressure to replace California barrels with petroleum produced elsewhere and transported into the state.

CIPA also emphasized that Santa Barbara County production supports skilled, high-paying jobs, contractors, service companies, and local businesses. California producers and their employees operate under some of the most stringent environmental, labor, and safety requirements in the world. Restricting production here therefore exports the work, not the underlying demand for petroleum. CIPA further urged the County to account for impacts on mineral and royalty owners and fully evaluate the environmental and economic consequences of replacing local production with imported crude and additional transportation.

Those arguments were echoed by Supervisors Lavagnino and Nelson. Lavagnino emphasized the economic divide between North and South County, noting that oil production provides head-of-household jobs in communities with fewer comparable employment opportunities. Nelson argued that the County owed affected property owners a complete environmental analysis, an assessment of potential legal exposure and property rights, and serious consideration of alternatives to an outright prohibition.

According to Noozhawk, nearly 50 people addressed the Board during public comment, with opponents warning about impacts on workers, energy costs, and California’s increasing reliance on petroleum supplied from outside the state. Supporters argued that the prohibition advances the County’s climate and environmental objectives.

For CIPA, Tuesday’s vote also underscores why the next phase deserves close attention. As CIPA warned workers before the hearing, the prohibition on new wells and reentry should not be viewed in isolation. It is the first step in a broader County process that could ultimately seek to force existing, duly permitted production out of Santa Barbara County.

CIPA will remain actively engaged as that process moves forward and will continue working with its members, employees, royalty owners, labor, and other affected interests to defend local production, jobs, and property rights.