Join the Fight to Stop Exxon’s Dangerous Trucking Plan

In 2015 the pipeline that transported oil from Exxon’s three offshore oil drilling platforms ruptured, causing a nightmarish oil spill that killed wildlife and blackened and polluted beaches in the Santa Barbara-Goleta area. Now Exxon–still waiting for the failed Plains All American pipeline to be replaced–proposes to put 70 oil trucks a day on our highways, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for up to 7 years so that it can resume drilling and transport oil.

The Society of Fearless Grandmothers opposes Exxon’s dangerous trucking plan. Today we know that we are living through a climate emergency with climate disasters happening one after another. We have to start responding to the climate emergency with appropriate urgency — this includes stopping new fossil fuel projects, phasing out old ones, and rapidly transitioning to renewable energy.

Here’s what you can do to help stop Exxon:

  1. Join us at a rally and march on September 24 at 4:30pm. Meet at the Santa Barbara County Administration Building, at the corner of Anapamu and Anacapa Sts. This rally is part of the Sept. 24th Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike organized by youth all over the world. Students from UCSB will speak at the rally. Please wear a mask to protect yourself and everyone else.
  2. Send an email to the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission: To provide written comments to the Planning Commission, submit your comment via email to the Project Planner, Jacquelynn Ybarra by September 24th, or else to the Recording Secretary, David Villalobos at dvillalo@countyofsb.org prior to 12:00 pm on September 27th. All you really have to say is “I oppose Exxon’s dangerous trucking plan.”
  3. Sign up to make a 1 minute public comment at the online Planning Commission Hearing on Sept 29 or October 1: To participate in the virtual hearing via Zoom and make a public comment during the live meeting, register in advance for the first webinar:https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cNXorqrCQNq2CLH7yyWC7g You will have the option to participate in the hearings using audio only or with video. The hearings will begin at 9:00 with presentations from County staff and from Exxon. Public comment is projected to start around 10 or 11:00am. You can email dvillalo@countyofsb.org if you have a schedule constraint and ask to be called nearer to the beginning or end of the day. Otherwise, expect to listen to potentially hours of hearing and public comment as you wait to be called to make a comment. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. All you really have to say is “My name is ___. I live in _____ in Santa Barbara County. I oppose Exxon’s dangerous trucking plan.”
  4. Let us know you want to stay involved in stopping Exxon. We know that the Board of Supervisors will ultimately be the ones to say Yes or No to Exxon’s plan, probably later this autumn. We have plans to remind our County Supervisors of the escalating climate emergency, and we’d love to have you join us. Contact us and tell us “Keep me updated on how to stop Exxon.”

More information on Exxon’s proposal:

Center for Biological Diversity information sheet 

350.org Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara’s Environmental Defense Center press release

Scientists and international leaders call for phase out of fossil fuels and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions now:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 report – summary from Yale Climate Connections

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres statement on the IPCC Report “A code red for humanity”

Joint editorial from over 200 medical journals

Letter from over 2,000 scientists and academics

International Energy Association’s Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector,  May 2021 press release: “The contraction of oil and natural gas production will have far-reaching implications for all the countries and companies that produce these fuels. No new oil and natural gas fields are needed in the net zero pathway”. Summary from Yale Climate Connections

Statement from 101 Nobel Laureates including the Dalai Lama

Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians joint appeal for delegates at the upcoming U.N. climate summit to “listen to the cry of the Earth”