Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

All right, good morning. I will call to order the September 15th, 2026 regular meeting in the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Here. At this time, please stand and join us in pledging allegiance to our flag. The next item of business is the approval of the September 1st, 2026, minutes from the September 1st, 2026 meeting. Can I get a motion? Move approval.

A motion from Hartman, a second from Capps. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is the County Executive Officer's Report. MS. PETERSON, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR US THIS MORNING?

Thank you. Thank you, CEO. At this time, Madam Clerk, are there any announcements or changes to today's agenda?

Thank you, Madam Clerk. And just an announcement from the chair for those here in the meeting or those that are watching online that may want to participate in public comment. I know there's a lot of interest in Department item number one, the oil and gas prohibition. Likely public comment, depending on how many speakers we have, will probably be two minutes. So I just want to make sure those of you that are here that are preparing to speak that you have a chance to look over your notes and see if you guys can keep it within that time frame. So I just want to get that announcement out before w

Okay. All right. So at this time, I'd accept a motion for the balance of the administrative agenda. So all items except A17. so moved second motion by hartman second by lee any further discussion seeing none all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed motion passes unanimously okay at this time we will go ahead and move on to our resolutions before coming back to item a17 madam clerk will you please read administrative item number one into the record

Thank you. All right. Madam Clerk, will you please read administrative item number two into the record?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, it wasn't that long ago that we were going through some tough budget times here at the board, and there was a movement to eliminate 4-H funding. And I know it says in the resolution that we serve 550 kids and 120 volunteers. I promise you, at least that many were here in the audience. And all it took was for us to hear from the kids to realize, like they said, 4-H is way more than raising an animal. It's teaching character development. It's teaching public speaking. It's just an overall life-changing environment. And You know, thank God that day we did not cut the f

Thank you. And thank you. all right all right we'll next go to our items that were pulled by the public or by board members i think the only item that we pulled was a17 madam clerk can you go ahead and read that into the record

Okay, we're gonna have the public come and speak first and then Supervisor Hartman.

right supervisor hartman thank you uh i just wanted to thank mary louise breitman who made this donation it really allows for much more flexibility in the planning we've got some county money and some federal money going to improve the lompoc animal shelter and this will give us more space more flexibility within which to design so thank you to mrs breitman

All right. Thank you, Supervisor Hartman. Any further questions about this item? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and take a motion. Supervisor Hartman?

Second. Okay, a motion from Hartman, a second from Lee. Any further discussion on the item? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. All right. Well, that concludes our administrative agenda. We're moving right along. Next item of business is general public comment. This is the time in the meeting for members of the public to speak on items that are not on today's agenda. So if you want to talk about oil and gas, this is not the time to talk about that. That'll be coming later. So, Madam Clerk, are there any general public commenters at this poi

Well, I do appreciate the clapping. try to keep the meeting meeting moving so we don't do clapping in the boardroom so if you want to show your approval typically people wave their hands but we don't do clapping just going to set us up for later in the meeting so just and that's a rule across the board either way guys so it's not picking on this item in particular unless resolutions i'm sorry yes supervisor um these are just long-standing traditions at the board and you know some of you maybe you're waiting for first meetings here i just wanted to let you guys know how we proceed with the rest

All right. Thank you very much. Moving right along. We'll go ahead and begin our departmental items at this time and our one and only item here today on departmental item number one. Madam Clerk, will you please read that into the record?

All right, just for some agenda management, we're gonna go ahead and start with the presentation, and then we're gonna have questions from the board. At that point, then we'll go to public comment. At approximately about 10.30, we will take a break, allow the interpreter and others to take a small break, and probably return to public comment at that time. Once public comment is concluded, the board will make additional questions of staff. And then we will do deliberations before making a final decision on this item. So just give everybody a preview into how this will proceed.

All right. Thank you, Director Plotman. Ms. Martin.

All right, thank you. I'm going to take the chair's privilege since most of this impacts my district. Ask some questions first here. I want to make sure I understand the county's overall direction correctly. The board has already directed staff to pursue both a prohibition on new onshore oil and gas wells and future phase out of existing onshore and gas operations. Is that correct?

OK, what is before us today is the first piece phase one. Prohibition of new wells. And the second piece phase two is already underway. It is intended addressed eventual cessation of existing operations.

OK, in both days in one and phase two were directed by the board with the same action.

Thank you. My next question is, is oil considered a mineral resource under CEQA and is our planning and our county planning documents?

Can prohibition prohibiting prohibiting future wells make some oil and gas resources that otherwise might have been developed practically inaccessible?

OK. Did the environmental review quantify or identify the mineral resources that could become unavailable as a result of this ordinance?

the correct path there is going to be an environmental impact report that is being prepared as part of the amortization study and phase two the second piece correct thank you for that i do have some additional questions to go along with my questions around sequa did staff evaluate whether the loss of mineral resources availability could be environmentally significant Yes or no is fine.

Okay. Did staff analyze whether prohibiting future wells could affect investment decisions or the economic life of existing oil field, oil operations?

Did staff analyze whether phase one could affect the timing of well plugging, abandonment, or facility decommissioning?

OKAY. DID THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW ANALYZE AND ASSOCIATED ANY OF THE ASSOCIATED EFFECTS SUCH AS TRUCKING, EQUIPMENT ACTIVITY, WASTE HANDLING, GRADING, OR SITE RESTORATION IF THE TIMING OF THE DECISIONS MIGHT CHANGE BASED ON A PROHIBITION?

OKAY. SO THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES ARE NOT EVALUATED AS PART OF THIS EQUAL PROCESS?

OKAY. THANK YOU. DID STAFF IDENTIFY EVIDENCE THAT PROHIBITING NEW WILLS IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY WILL REDUCE PETROLEUM DEMAND IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY? SO BY STOPPING WILL THIS IMPACT? DID WE ANALYZE THAT?

SO DID WE LOOK FOR ANY EVIDENCE THAT PROHIBITING NEW WILLS MIGHT HAVE IMPACT ON DEMAND? no sir did we look at identifying evidence that it might have um changed demand statewide no sir um did we analyze whether some portions of the production that otherwise might occur here could instead be supplied from somewhere else outside of santa barbara county we did not did we analyze where the replacement supply would likely come from we did not did we compare the environmental impacts of producing and transporting that replacement crude with producing crude in santa barbara county not as part of phas

Does it also say that counties should encourage exploration for new resource sites?

Have either of those provisions been amended or repealed?

Has the county previously in environmental documents relied upon those policies when finding oil development consistent with the comprehensive plan?

Okay. So what is staff's explanation for finding a countywide prohibition on new oil and gas wells consistent with existing conservation element policies?

OK. All right, that will be it for right now. I have a few other questions here before we go to public comment. Sure. Questions for my other colleagues? Supervisor Hartman?

I just had a clarification. The number of active and idle wells, we had, I think, three different numbers floating around, one in our board letter, one in a statement, and then one in your presentation. So I just wanted clarification on that.

Thank you, Supervisor Hartman. Supervisor Lavagnino.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So it was stated that the Planning Commission voted three to two to support these no new wells ordinance, but recently they also just voted 5-0 to approve the asphalt facility. That was not appealed to the Board of Supervisors, so I don't know a lot about it. I did not watch that hearing. So in that hearing was there and maybe supervisor nelson already asked this but as part of that packet was it studied um the environment environmentally preferential um manner in doing this was it looked at using local oil or what was what was determined in that facility what would be go

Okay, what was the timeline? Do you know what the timeline is to open that back up?

Thank you, Supervisor Levin. Any other questions? Supervisor Capps.

Just a clarification to one of your questions about oil production, because we did prior to this coming to the board the first time around, I did a meeting with the California Energy Commission and the Vice Chair Gunda. He looked at our proposal and said that it would not have a significant impact on production. So I'm just looking at my notes and I can find them later, but I have more of a direct quote to that regard.

yeah my question was i guess was more not on the production but um i think we're talking about mineral resources that would become inaccessible um i think there's some proven mineral resources in our county that don't have current production out of them and that they might become inaccessible which sounds like they would and that's the consistency question that i have all right other questions from the board um i have i guess one couple more questions on um this the health effects so there's been some conversation about why to move forward with a prohibition and there's also a new state law on

OKAY. MAYBE 1 OR 2%, MAYBE PRETTY MINOR THAT ARE ACTUALLY IMPACTING POTENTIALLY UNDER THAT HEALTH PROTECTION ZONE THAT ARE PROTECTING PEOPLE'S HEALTH. DO WE KNOW WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE REMAINING RESOURCES COULD BE POTENTIALLY ACCESSED WHILE STILL STAYING OUTSIDE THAT ZONE? SO WE HAVE AREAS THAT WE'RE NOT ACCESSING NOW. you know, new wells could potentially access those resources and still be in a health protection zone, right? Is that accurate?

Okay. And so the public health materials in our record generally shows that risk increases with proximity, well density and production volumes, right? That's what I'm seeing in there. And we're saying that 98% of our wells are not in proximity and we don't really have dense oil fields right not like you see another like current in other places is that correct yeah that's generally correct okay and our volumes are moderate to low here relatively low okay um do we have any study um our records indicate when the health risk becomes zero at all i don't believe we have that information all right th

Okay. Did staff evaluate a more restrictive setback or other location-based regulations as an alternative to a countywide prohibition?

Those are my questions. All right. With that, seeing no additional questions from the board, we will go ahead and move to public comment. Madam Clerk, how many public commenters do we have today?

OK. So we're going to go ahead and get started. That's going to be two minutes apiece. That's going to be about two hours of public comment. Like I said before, we will break about 1030 to give everybody a little bit of a breather and then come back to public comment at that point. Yeah, go ahead and get started.

As John heads up here, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comment this time.

Thank you. all right we're going to go ahead and take about a 10 minute break we'll be back at 10 45 for the conclusion of public comment thank you All right, welcome back to September 15th meeting the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors here in Santa Maria. We're on Department item number one. Just for a point of Agenda management. We did get started a little earlier on this item and I think some people were told that wasn't going to start till 10. So I'm going to go ahead and open up public comment back out for the next two speakers. So those of you who may have gotten here late will g

Actually, before Mr. Stoker comes to the mic, I'm going to go ahead and close public comment again. So it's now closed. Thank you, Mr. Stoker.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, MADAM CLERK. At this time, we'll have questions of the board. Any board members have any questions that came up during public comment? I want to have questions first before deliberations. Any other questions? Supervisor Hartman, you have a question?

I do have a question for staff and that is this ordinance doesn't really address slant or horizontal drilling or approved oil drilling production plans or bested LUPs. Is that correct?

Okay. So there's still lots of opportunity out there, even if this phase out were implemented or this ban.

All right. Supervisor Capps, did you have any questions for staff before we go into deliberations?

I would like our County Council to respond to Mr. Becker's claim that I should be recused.

You know, there's there's proven no reserves, especially in the Santa Maria Valley. I think the the letter from Asfalto goes over some USGS studies. Is staff aware of? Any type of mental reserves that are. In the Santa Maria Valley or here in the county in general, in terms of their.

No, OK, but we do. understand that there are mineral rights out there and quite a bit of oil still under the Santa Maria Valley and throughout some of these different oil fields throughout the Santa Barbara County?

Okay. And this board may or may not have the legal ability based on state law to prohibit, but prohibiting oil operations doesn't make the county compensation proof for potential takings, right?

OK, so the study will look into potential takings of areas that are no longer accessible because of a ban.

Okay. So there's no assessment on what the ban might have as an impact on mineral rights owners? not to my knowledge okay so those that own an asset that's specifically to mineral rights would not be able so we're not looking at that at all that's correct mr chair do we acknowledge that that has any value are we operating under the assumption it has no value

Okay. And our actions today would potentially make some of those unretrievable because we can't hit them all with the slant drilling that we mentioned, right? Okay, great. Thank you. I think that is my questions at this time.

All right, I think since those are responses to my questions, I have a couple of follow-up questions for that, specifically around the mineral resources. Do we have any idea the percentage of mineral resources that will still be accessible versus those will not be based on this action?

Okay, so when you say there's still a significant amount, we just don't know? IN ANY TYPE OF RELATION? I DON'T HAVE THAT KNOWLEDGE. I DO NOT HAVE THAT KNOWLEDGE. IT COULD BE AN INSIGNIFICANT AMOUNT IN COMPARISON.

OKAY. ALL RIGHT. AND WHEN YOU SAID THAT YOU'RE NOT REQUIRED TO EVALUATE IMPACTS THAT HAPPEN OUTSIDE THE THINGS LIKE ACCELERATED SCHEDULES OR INVESTMENTS THAT MIGHT LEAD TO WELL ABANDONMENT OR CHANGES ON THE PRODUCTION, THAT WOULD BE WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT WAS IN COUNTY. AND WE HAVEN'T EVALUATED THAT, RIGHT?

YEAH, SO MY QUESTION PREVIOUSLY WAS ABOUT WHETHER a ban that would lead to less investment into oil and gas operations how that might impact potential capping of wells other environmental impacts at well sites and in oil fields and we said we had not evaluated that previously no and i

OKAY. BUT WE DIDN'T LOOK INTO THAT, THOUGH, EITHER?

I UNDERSTAND THAT IT COULD BE A FORESEEABLE IMPACT. OKAY. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. THAT WAS...

ALL RIGHT. BACK TO THE BOARD FOR DELIBERATIONS.

THIS IS JUST ON PHASE ONE. THIS IS JUST ON PHASE ONE. I KNOW THERE WAS SOME I KNOW THERE WAS SOME CONFUSION IN THE COMMENTS. CONFUSION IN THE COMMENTS.

YES, ALTHOUGH YES, TODAY'S YES, TODAY'S DECISION IS ON PHASE ONE.

DECISION IS ON PHASE ONE. JUST DEALING WITH PHASE ONE.

Yeah, before we actually get to deliberations, I was intrigued by some of the calls for a conversation. I don't believe that that would have been raised if we weren't where we are today. But I think that that is something I don't want to ignore. I think it may be more appropriate as it relates to phase two, And we're not really agendized to talk about phase two today, but I would like to just set out where I would like to see things head. I would very much like to see an analysis of different amortization periods for different types of wells. And I would like to see that come prior to our budg

Well, I appreciate... the words there. I think as we move to phase two that there's that's part of we're talking about a three-year study but definitely you know I appreciate that all not not all wells and all production is the same so that's definitely a move in the right direction is to let's talk about it. It's interesting that there are, you know, such polar opposites as far as views go on this. But there's always nuance to everything. And bans, just they have shown that they really don't work anywhere. Anytime you're banning something means, to me, that you're not willing to do the hard w

Thank you, Supervisor Levin. If I speak to Supervisor Hartman here for a moment, I appreciate the asphalt idea. I mean, I think that's a great idea to have that conversation. You know, I was trying to kind of kick off that conversation also with a well abandonment strategy was something I was trying to bring to this board previously, because I do think that we can be working with the oil and gas industry. And so I think you're right. We're not agendized on that today, but I do think we probably should come back with another item in the future to talk about what are the things that we can do wi

So are we giving direction about what we want to see in phase two right now?

No, no, no, we can't. We can't do that today. So we're going to bring back.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Supervisor Levine, you know, kind of got my interest there. And I just if there is a conversation, I appreciate that. the notion of involving younger people and because they really have been a a true um gift of this conversation and the ways that they've showed up uh engaged in their government i mean showing up to county supervisor meetings is pretty admirable and i i don't want to get into it with you but like i mean having to use a phone what other options do they have and i think that they're saying exactly that is my point it is it is indispensable so what you're saying i

but they're they are living that but they want a different this is reality all right what you want and what real thank you let's get back let's get back see i i knew i knew i couldn't get away with a comment without a rebuttal but but anyway well one at a time supervisor caps okay i'm done where's yours all right we're good okay um and i might as well kick off because i think it's going to get rebutted a lot today okay so 16 years I've been trying to bring north and south county together and why does it not work because of this issue this is what is the dividing issue in this county and the re

Well, let me start by saying I think your characterization of North County is changing radically with the Space Force Base and all that's predicted to happen there. There's new aeronautic ag tech, low altitude flight. I mean, North County is projected to really grow in terms of jobs and opportunities. So it's not an either or choice anymore. There's a lot that's happening. I think, too, it's a false choice to say it's oil from here or oil from elsewhere. We do have substitutes. We have most of our electricity in California in the daytime is generated now by solar. We haven't had blackouts and

Thank you. Well, I don't have too much more to add to Supervisor Hartman. I'm just proud to be on this board at this moment in history. I do believe it is a historic moment and I'm glad that she referenced the mudslide because as Supervisor Lavagnino pointed out, there are differences that I in North and South, and I respect your attention to the differences. But one thing that definitely does unite us is these crises, these fires, all of the extreme weather events that we go through. And it unites us in a good way. We all come together in a beautiful way. Our first responders respond, and we

All right. Thank you, Supervisor Capps. Supervisor Lee.

Thank you. First, I want to say, Thank you for staff for working on this. It's been challenging and difficult. So we appreciate your work on this. So of all the districts, my district is probably the one that cares the most deeply about this issue. And they have the media voices heard. They do support banning of new wells and the transition to renewable energy. My district feels the most effect from fire and flood. Just yesterday we had a meeting to talk about the flood in Montecito because it's so severe and scary that the community came out, hundreds of them, because they are that concerned.

All right. Thank you, Supervisor Lee. I'll wrap up here. exhibited by the questions i asked initially that i am concerned that we can't make the sequel exemptions here that um this uh staff is trying to um i think that that is obvious um it's obviously piecemealing even by the conversations that we're having up here that we're talking about phase two at the same time we're talking about phase one to me is evidence that this is one big project um and so um no matter what we do today i suspect um that may be overturned A couple of conversations that were happening over here, we talked about, esp

Well, I just want to say that in South County there have been tremendous impacts from offshore oil and a lot of workers who work in that area, and I've spoken with them. So I think that's not quite the characterization you have, that it's only North County. It's onshore North County, offshore South County. I'm prepared to move staff recommendation.

Any further discussion on the motion? Okay, seeing none, let's go ahead and do a roll call vote.

All right. Thank you guys all for being here and participating. that concludes department item number one at this time we will go to closed session so if you guys could be all be quiet for a moment we're going to go ahead and read the items that we discussed in closed session there will be no additional business public business after closed session so that will conclude our meeting after we conclude closed session madam county council

All right, so we're going to go ahead and move to closed session. It is 1230 right now, 1239. We'll be back no earlier than 115. Welcome back to the September 15, 2026 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in Santa Maria. We are just coming back from closed session and so Madam County Council can you please report out on what we discussed.

All right, thank you. That concludes our business for today. We will be now adjourned to September 22nd, 2026 in Santa Barbara. See you then.