🚀 go-pugleaf

 
 Mobil Corporation has proposed a major new oil extraction
facility in the Santa Barbara area.  Statewide issues associated
with this include the reorganization of the State Lands Commission
into the new Energy Department, proposed by Gov. Wilson,
and a new royalties sharing bill (SB 1187) proposed by Maddy
of Fresno in the Senate, to be heard in committee (Gov. Org.)
on April 18.

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  What is the Clearview project?
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  The Clearview project has been proposed by
the Mobil Corporation, and would consist of:

  a) 60 new oil wells and a chemical processing 
    facility on the UCSB North Campus, about 5/8 
    of a mile west of the intersection of Storke
    and Colegio Roads in Goleta.  A 175-foot tall 
    drill rig would go on this site.
  b)an expanded chemical processing facility on
    a site near the intersection of Hollister and
    101 in Ellwood, just west of the Sandpiper
    Golf Course
  c)A new oil pipeline, 26 miles long, from the
    chemical processing facility near Sandpiper
    to Carpinteria.

  Mobil filed an application on 9 Feb 1995 with
Santa Barbara County to begin construction on
the project.  The County rejected that application
as incomplete on 13 Mar 1995, and listed
the inadequacies in a 31-page letter to Mobil.
If and when Mobil amends their application,
various reviews, including an
Environmental Impact Report (EIR), are expected to
take about 1 1/2 years. Many agencies, including
the County, the Coastal Commission, and the UC
Regents, must grant approval. If approval is granted,
construction could start in 1997, and the facilities
would operate until 2030.
  Two UCSB committees, one commissioned by the 
Chancellor, another by the Faculty through the 
Academic Senate, have studied the project between
September 1993 and the present.  Both committees 
included UCSB experts from technical disciplines 
as well as nearby residents, and both met with,
and were given extensive information by Mobil.
Both committees concluded that the Clearview project 
was incompatible with the plans that UCSB has for the 
North Campus, and recognized serious conflicts with
other existing Campus facilities (Faculty and Student 
housing, Children's Center.) The results of the committees' 
work are in two written reports, totaling 284 pages.

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8 Points to Consider about Clearview
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1. Clearview would place a major oil-drilling 
project and industrial chemical processing plant 
near tranquil Sands Beach, west of Coal Oil Point,
which is now mainly used for recreation.  
The chemical processing would be less than 
1/2 mile from residential neighborhoods and the 
Devereux School, and a little over 1/2 mile from 
from the University Child Care Center, the Isla 
Vista School,  UCSB Faculty and Student Housing, 
and the Francisco Torres  Dormitories.  It would 
be 500 feet from planned Faculty and Staff Housing
on North Campus.  It would be immediately adjacent to 
UCSB's Devereux Slough Nature Reserve.

2. Mobil Corporation has a disturbing safety
record in its Southern California operations,
particularly at its Torrance Refinery.  
On 17 Mar 1995, Mobil was cited by Cal/OSHA
for `willful' lack of inspection in 1994 that
led to an explosion that injured 28 Torrance
workers on 19 Oct 1994. There have been 
repeated explosions and fires with
multiple deaths at this facility. In 1989
the Magruder Middle School in Torrance, which
borders the Mobil refinery, was flooded with
hydrogen sulfide gas, leading to numerous
serious injuries.  Large amounts of gas containing 
high levels of lethal hydrogen sulfide will be
processed at the Clearview site.

3. Mobil states that the Clearview project
would remove the offshore oil platform named
Holly, which currently operates 2 miles off
Coal Oil Point.  However, 4 offshore platforms
similar to Holly are now being removed from
the waters off Carpinteria and Summerland,
and no new onshore facility is replacing them.
In a 1993 request to the State Lands Commission,
Mobil argued that Holly was `uneconomical'
and the State Lands Staff concurred that
Holly was `losing significant amounts of money.' 
A subsidy from the State of California, amounting to over
one million dollars a year, was granted at
that time to Mobil, through a reduction in oil 
royalties.  Holly would most likely be 
removed without this subsidy, or without Clearview.

4. Mobil states that the Clearview project
would end the last barging of oil in the
Santa Barbara Channel.  However, if Platform
Holly were allowed to die its natural death,
barging would also end.

5. The Clearview project would violate virtually 
every existing land use and oil development 
policy in the county.  Approval of Clearview
would open the door for the installation of
similar plants between Summerland and Goleta,
for example, on More Mesa, next to Arroyo
Beach, and next to the Santa Barbara Zoo.

6. Mobil states that the Clearview project 
would bring about 200 new jobs: most of those 
are in construction, and only 80 are permanent.  
All the jobs are paid for by taxpayers through
another reduction in oil royalties, totaling
$900 million dollars, that the State of 
California has offered to Mobil Oil for 
undertaking this project.

7. The Clearview site near Coal Oil Point is
allowed to emit unlimited air pollution for
up to 200 hours a year; the operation of the
`flare' at this site would emit 700 pounds/hour 
of Sulfur Oxides and 360 pounds/hour of Carbon
Monoxide into the atmosphere.  This site would 
also be brightly lit 24 hours a day, and from 
nearby locations could constantly sound 10 
times louder than the airplanes that take off 
from the Santa Barbara Airport.

8. Should the Clearview project adversely
impact UCSB, the net economic consequences could be
negative for our region.  The contributions of
UCSB to our local economy amount to at least $500 
million each year.  The economic contribution of 
just the research moneys brought in by the faculty
who would live in UCSB's planned housing on the
North Campus would be about the same as those
from the Clearview project.

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Some Statistics to Consider:
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 Rank of UCSB among employers 
                 in Santa Barbara County: 1
 Approximate number of people 
                 employed by UCSB       : 8,000

 Approximate number of people 
 employed by the oil and gas 
          industry in the entire county : 1,000

 Approximate number of jobs 
               created by Clearview     : 200

 Approximate number of people hired by 
 local businesses to supply goods and 
      services to UCSB and its employees: 5,000

 Approximate number of additional 
 people hired by local businesses 
 to supply goods and services 
                 to UCSB students       : 2,000-3,000

 Percentage of UCSB's $270 million 
         annual budget spent in 
            Santa Barbara County        : 80

 Number of people who attend plays, 
    performances, and other cultural 
     events at UCSB annually            : 150,000

 Percentage of all fare-paying MTD 
    passengers who are UCSB students    : 10

 Amount of Metropolitan Transit 
    District fares paid annually 
          by UCSB students              : $200,000


What can you do?

The Clearview proposal must be approved by the County 
Board of Supervisors:

     District 1  Naomi Schwartz   568-2186  (FAX 568-2534)
     District 2  Jeanne Graffy    568-2191  (FAX 568-2283)
		EMAIL:  jgraffy@aol.com
     District 3  Bill Wallace     568-2192  (FAX 568-2283)
     District 4  Tim Staffel      737-7700  (FAX 737-7703)
     District 5  Tom Urbanske     346-8400  (FAX 346-8404)
   
     Address -   105 East Anapamu St.
                 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2000

The opinion of the public and local politicians are influenced by letters
to the Editor of the News Press:

         FAX: 966-6258

         Email:  SBNPEDIT@AOL.COM

         Address:  Letters to the Editor
                   Santa Barbara News Press
                   PO Box 1359
                   Santa Barbara, CA 93102-1359

         Phone: 564-5161 (John Lankford -- Editorial Page Editor)

Others who can strongly influence the Clearview proposal:

        Assemblyman Brooks Firestone
	State Capitol Room 4116
	Sacramento, CA 95814-4906

	Phone:      Local - (805)-965-1994 
               Sacramento - (916)-445-8292
	  FAX:      Local - (805)-965-2046
               Sacramento - (916)-327-3518

        Email: Brooks.a.Firestone@Assembly.ca.gov

 The State Lands Commission:

 Lt. Governor     Gray Davis        - (916)-445-8994
                  State Capitol Room 1114
                  Sacramento, CA 95814-4906

 Controller       Kathleen Connell  - (916)-445-3028 [FAX (916)-445-6379]
                  300 Capitol Mall Floor 18
                  Sacramento, CA 95814-4341

 Dir. of Finance  Russell Gould     - (916)-445-3878 [FAX (916)-324-7311]
                  State Capitol Room 1145
                  Sacramento, CA 95814-4906

The California Coastal Commission
The University of California Board of Regents

Let them hear your voice!

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 Content in this document does not represent
a sanctioned view of any organization or entity
within the University of California, or of the
University of California.