Local Measures – 2022

“(VC Star) Two local referendums that would tighten the county’s environmental oversight of oil drilling already have attracted attention and big money. Aera Energy LLC, a Bakersfield company with major drilling interests in the county, recently contributed $5 million to block the new rules.

That is the largest single campaign contribution to a county measure in recent history. It brought donations from oil interests to $6.5 million, according to campaign finance reports. (Update 5/17: Another 863,000 dollars in Oil Money has poured into the no on Measures A&B! The total is now 8 million dollars just in Ventura County!)

If voters approve the referendums, they will allow modern environmental rules that protect air, water, public health, and disadvantaged communities, and address climate change, which were adopted by county supervisors in 2020, to take effect for new drilling projects. The rules do not stop drilling, they just require a single, consistent permitting process for drilling projects regardless of the age of the underlying permits.”

• Measure A applies the rules to coastal areas of the unincorporated county. 
• Measure B imposes them for inland areas.

The rules were due to go into effect in December 2020 but were frozen by an aggressive million-dollar petition drive to put the regulations on the ballot.

Ventura County League of Women Voters

“The League of Women Voters – a nonpartisan political organization – encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.

We never endorse or oppose political parties or candidates, but we are political.  We do lobby on issues concerning all levels of government upon which members have studied and reached a consensus position.

Based on our research, we believe that measures A & B are in the best interest of the community and that the ‘No’ arguments consist primarily of focus-tested talking points designed to mislead the voters.  

We reached out to both campaigns and found the YES campaign eager to participate in discussions and support their assertions, while the NO campaign was evasive in answering questions, or did not respond at all.

The League supports comprehensive long-range planning, and believes natural resources (such as oil, gas, and water) should be managed as interrelated parts of life-supporting ecosystems. We believe that the County Board of Supervisors has done that by carefully planning for the future health and well-being of our county when they passed Ordinance No.4567 (Measure A) and Ordinance No. 4568 (Measure B). They followed a lengthy, transparent process which allowed all interested parties to give input and make comments. This referendum is being used to disregard the informed votes of our elected supervisors and circumvent good government practices that are based on current knowledge and research.

Please HERE for our analysis, our references, and the existing League positions that underlie our decision. https://my.lwv.org/california/ventura-county/lwvvc-supports-yes-measures-and-b#FinancialStatements“

350 Ventura County Climate Hub

“Dear 350 Activists,

Some of us are canvasing, knocking on the doors of voters who are likely to vote YES on A & B, but who may well be confused. Here is what we are experiencing. Some people are all in and worried and want to volunteer or put up a sign. Some seem stressed about how to vote. They do not have time or wherewithal to source trustworthy information.

Many we visit are shaken to discover that they could have made a mistake by believing the ads and voting NO. A few appear to feel sick as it gradually sinks in how profoundly they were misled.

Here are answers to questions neighbors in North Ventura Avenue have been asking. We don’t need to know all these facts. But if we can reply with any one of these important counterpoints to the NO campaign lies, it begins to build trust and appreciation:

• There are 5,253 wells like the ones at the end of some of our streets and along the Ventura Bike Trail that were done on antiquated permits with no expiration date. The oil companies can drill new wells next to those old wells, and go deeper, and use more extreme extraction methods by applying to the county for a simple over-the-counter $330 permit, similar to a permit to hang a new business sign. If NO wins, then the current freedom to expand drilling on an old permit will be set in stone with no chance of an environmental review for any new drilling on antiquated permits.
• There are 1,653 wells drilled on modern permits that HAVE had an environmental review. This shows you that environmental review does NOT stop oil drilling. It slows down the application process if the producer wants to expand on a very, very old permit and may curtail some expansion activities for important health and safety reasons.
• The less than 1,000 oil industry employees still have LOTS of work to maintain the total of 8,500 wells in the county. There is also a HUGE amount of new work to properly close abandoned wells. AND requirement for environmental review adds even more really good jobs. Demand for skilled oil production workers has to keep going up as part of a responsible phase-out of oil.
• County revenues are not affected, since existing production is totally unaffected by the ordinance adopted by county supervisors in Nov. Note, the reason there is an A and a B on the ballot is that there are two ordinances required to achieve the health and safety review of new oil drilling, one for the coastal zone and one for the non-coastal zone.
• For those puzzling about the connection to gas prices, this question is easy. First, oil produced in Ventura County is in most cases too thick and low-grade to make gasoline. Oil spokespeople can’t say how much goes to gasoline versus products like asphalt. However, it’s a drop in the bucket of global oil production for gasoline. Some backup estimates: If the overall total is 440,000 barrels daily oil produced in the county and say generously that half (220K barrels) can be used to make gasoline and generously estimate that a third of that could slow down waiting for environmental review before expanding the drilling on an existing antiquated permit. That would be around 75,000 barrels daily that MIGHT go into gasoline that MIGHT experience a slow-down or decrease in production due to environmental review. Global production is 97 MILLION barrels of oil globally per day of oil generally more likely to go into gasoline refineries that Ventura County oil. That amount of slowdown locally will affect maybe around .08% of the global gasoline supply.
• The permitting of new wells on old permits is for protection of those of us who live and work around old wells, and our community that depends increasingly on the protection of the aquifers that they are drilling through.

ACTION:

• Attend the next Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting at Government Center, on Tuesday, May 24, to speak for 1-3 minutes in Open Comment about why the ordinances they adopted are significant and what you are doing to help defend them. Connect with friends to carpool on the Facebook Event Page – https://www.facebook.com/events/404417964921583/
• Sign up HERE for VC-SAFE canvassing events: https://vcsafe.org/canvassing
• Reminder that Fillmore & Port Hueneme have a chance to join Clean Power Alliance–they must officially decide by the end of June
• Please talk with or write your Council members in those cities, and also Santa Paula that will have an information meeting at its June 1 council meeting. They have to vote by end of June to spend $10K for a feasibility study.
• Let the 350 VC Climate Hub Policy Team know if you want to work with others in your city to coordinate lobbying your city councils. Email jdietrick9@gmail.com.”

Indivisible Conejo

“The outrageous spending, lying and demagoguery that have marked this ballot measure are fresh evidence that California’s initiative process is a stain on the state. With $7 million to spend, the “No” campaign can’t seem to drill down far enough to locate the truth. Instead, of course, the oil industry has spent that money telling one lie after another (gas prices will rise! we’ll lose jobs! we’ll lose energy independence!) to obscure the measures’ simple goal: protecting the county’s air and water by tightening environmental oversight of oil drilling, applying contemporary regulations to any new drilling on land covered by permits that were granted before modern environmental standards went into effect.” 

Ventura County Democrats

“Democrats support Measures A & B. Protect our drinking water for families and farms from oil drilling activity with outdated permits riddled with loopholes. Big Oil is spilling Big Bucks in to a propaganda campaign to trick voters. Don’t be fooled out of your clean water. ONLY YES VOTES on BOTH A and B will save our local water from irreversible contamination. Join the Ventura County Democrats in Voting YES on Measures A and B.”  

Tomás Morales Rebecchi – Ventura

Oil giant Aera Energy, owned jointly by Exxon and Shell Oil, has spent $5 million to fight Measures A and B — two Ventura County ballot initiatives that would eliminate loopholes which allow oil companies to drill in Ventura County with no modern environmental review. That could break the record for fossil-fuel-interest contributions to a referendum campaign in the county.

In 2020, Aera Energy spent upward of $1 million three days after the Board of Supervisors voted to eliminate the antiquated-permit loopholes for new drilling projects. 

The money bought enough signature gatherers to put the issue back on the ballot in the form of Measures A and B. 

Voting “yes” on Measures A and B will reinstate the protections against antiquated drill permits initially approved by the Board of Supervisors.This is just  the beginning of a tsunami of money and misinformation Big Oil is going to flood Ventura County with. 

But Aera Energy leaders are mistaken if they believe millions in misinformation will fool county voters into giving up protections for their water, farms and communities. We will not allow fossil-fuel interest groups with massive war chests to dictate our future and subvert our democracy. 

More than 1,000 oil wells sit within half a mile of Ventura County homes, and 60% of them are in communities of color. This is a grass-roots fight for environmental justice, public health and a livable future. 

Aera Energy’s fight is for their bottom line and corporate greed.

The VC-SAFE (Ventura County Save Agriculture and Freshwater for Everyone) coalition comprises environmental, social justice and public health advocates working to pass Measures A and B to protect Ventura’s aquifers, communities and farms from oil drilling using antiquated permits.