Environment✓ Verified

Santa Barbara County votes to ban new onshore oil drilling

Reported byThe Santa Barbara Independent ↗·Sourced by Goodlede

ShareFacebookBlueskyXEmailCopy linkCopied
What backs it

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on September 15 to ban all new onshore oil drilling in the county, the first step in a planned phaseout of existing onshore oil development. The last new drilling proposal was approved in 2014.

Worth noting

The ban applies only to new drilling proposals; existing operations will be phased out over a timeline still being determined through an amortization process expected to take years. Legal challenges are anticipated.

Notable but earlyWell established✓ Verified

Goodlede runs a two-pass source check on every story: one pass finds it, a second skeptical pass re-verifies the claim and writes what it doesn’t prove. This is a source check, not an independent fact-check — confirm anything important at the link above.

Read the full story at The Santa Barbara Independent

Read original story ↗

More good news, verified daily.

Goodlede covers positive developments across science, nature, rights, and human achievement — verified before they appear. No hype, no roundups, no PR wires.

© 2026 Wag Media, LLC

More from Goodlede

Environment

Brett Gray Ranch Attains Audubon Bird-Friendly Land Certification

Audubon · Verified

Environment

E-quipment highlight: 4,400 hp Wabtec FLXDrive electric locomotive [update]

Electrek · Verified

Arts

IF_DO transforms neglected Victorian building in Hastings into community centre

Dezeen · Verified