Santa Barbara Pro Offshore Drilling?

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors recently voted to reverse their long-standing opposition to offshore oil drilling.  As a Californian who was around in 1970 and a former resident of Santa Barbara that position makes my heart stop.  But it is not surprising coming from a Republican dominated board in an election year that features this option as a platform element.  It is truly a shame that this iconic area that suffered so much from monumental oil spills should somehow forget the pain they endured nearly forty years ago. 

I know that oil prices have got everyone reeling but hopefully common sense and facts will prevail.  In order for that to occur, folks need to start asking questions such as:

--What will these offshore oil wells yield (hint: in most cases it is natural gas and not oil--how is that supposed to help oil prices)?

--Where will the product be sold (hint: oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is high in sulfur so it can't be used in the US and will probably be sold in Asia)?

--How much of a difference is this going to make (hint: none, we use 25 percent of the world's oil and own 3%--how in that equation can we drill our selves out of this?)

The bottom line here is that if American's knew as much about oil production and policy as they doing about the lives of American Idol contestants, we would likely have a much accelerated program for renewable energy and a vastly different political landscape.