SB NEEDS SOME TOUGH LOVE

I am generally proud to be a Californian and very proud to live in the great city of Santa Barbara. But the last few weeks I have felt anything but proud. Because, you see, I am witness to potentially one of the biggest blunders that we may ever make as a community. As The New York times recently reported ..

Santa Barbara County became a symbol of the national environmental movement’s passionate opposition to offshore oil drilling when an oil spill devastated its coastline in 1969. On Tuesday, it became a symbol of the changing national mood as its board of supervisors ... voted 3 to 2 on Tuesday to end the county’s opposition to offshore drilling ... Three weeks ago, the Public Policy Institute of California released a poll showing that 51 percent of Californians now approve of offshore drilling, a 10-point increase in a single year ...

This devastating bit of news got thinking about how our fear of terrorism has allowed us the sit back and watch our civil liberties slowly disappear. And now, it seems, our fear of high gas prices may result in me having to watch those ugly oil rigs reappear. You've probably heard this stuff a hundred times by now, but let me lay out once again why offshore drilling will do nothing to help gas prices:

- A decade for results: Even Bush himself is telling us that it may take more than a decade before we see any benefit from offshore drilling. Let me say that again: 10 YEARS!

- It's a land grab: More than half of the oil leases given to the oil companies have not been developed. So, why do they need our coasts? Let me say that again: OIL COMPANIES CAN DRILL ALL THEY WANT RIGHT NOW!

- The oil goes on the open market: Do you really believe that the oil off our coast will go right from the water into your gas tank? No, it will be sold on the open market. Let me say that again: YOUR OIL WILL GO TO CHINA!

- It will have almost no impact on gas prices: By some estimates, opening up offshore areas to oil exploration might cut the price of gas by 3 to 4 cents. Let me say that again: FOUR CENTS!

So, Santa Barbara, let me ask you ... Why are you willing to muck up MY COAST in MY COMMUNITY for absolutely no benefit to you and your family? Is your eagerness to do something about high gas prices blinding you to the cause of doing something right? If you really think this is a good deal, I have a bridge in San Francisco that I'm dying to sell you. And to Supervisor Brooks Firestone, who cast the deciding vote here, this oil discussion reminds me that your family's beer gives me gas.

Should Santa Barbarans be angry about high gas prices? Your damn right you should be! You should be angry that big oil has spent billions to prevent you from driving fuel efficient cars. You should be angry that automobile companies have not spent the last three decades working towards cars that run on alternative fuels. You should be angry that our world is heating up at an exponential rate. But most of all, you should be angry that the mind-bogglingly incompetent Bush administration has so easily convinced you that offshore drilling will help at the pump.

Yes, this is a sad time for me. And you can bet that ten years from now -- when gas prices are still high -- I'm going to stand by my ocean front property on upper State Street and yell over the sea of oil rigs that, "I TOLD YOU SO!"