Oil Drilling Off Santa Barbara

Seen in any of its many moods, the Santa Barbara Channel causes one to gasp at its stunning beauty. Set between mountainous islands and a mountainous mainland, the channel, whether alive with whitecaps, still in fog, or sparkling in the sun, is a natural wonder and a national heritage.

Only an extreme national emergency should justify disturbing this masterwork of nature. Yet metal derricks, work boats and barges are soon to clutter the channel as plans for oil drilling on a scale dwarfing such operations in the past move inexorably forward. Many of us are convinced that this new oil stampede is a danger to navigation, air quality, commercial fishing, ocean ecology and aesthetics.

The rationale for drilling offered by the oil companies and their intimate business partners--the federal and state governments (who get revenue without raising taxes or troubling Congress or the California Legislature)--is that our national interest dictates the development of domestic sources of energy.

If this is the case, then why don’t we adopt a national policy of conservation rather than one of conspicuous consumption. Our everyday lives offer many examples of this waste mentality. Airlines lure us to travel anywhere at any time at cut-rate fares and advertise almost hourly flights to the gambling halls of Las Vegas, where the brilliance of the neon lights rivals the desert sun.

Automobile commercials on TV glorify quick starts, high speed and fast turns (God help the pedestrian caught in the path of these mechanical jack rabbits). Other commercials inspire us to emulate those happy hunks shown mucking up on the deserts, mountains and pastures in four-wheel drive vehicles. And the Reagan Administration demonstrates the true nature of the energy “crisis” by exempting Ford and General Motors from the federal timetable for production of fuel-efficient cars.

Supermarkets refrigerate every inch of their stores rather than put lids on their refrigerators. (There’s little danger we’ll get a hernia from lifting a lid or sliding a glass door but a great one that we’ll catch pneumonia!) High schools hold their football games at night, requiring banks of powerful lights. We used to play in the pleasant light of the afternoon and our teams played just as well.

Is all this worth turning the Santa Barbara Channel into a dirty oil field?

I recall that in World War II, when we truly had a crisis, gasoline was rationed to lessen its waste. Back then we had a question we asked each other, one I’d like to pose for the oil companies and their governmental partners as they prepare to drill in the channel: Is this trip really necessary?

BOB ENGLISH

Santa Barbara