Letters to the Editor: Can oil and solar mix?; Wind farm project needs more scrutiny | Letters

Aera Energy is at the forefront of innovation and collaboration to usher in a clean energy economy.

Proving that oil and renewables can work together to meet our state’s energy needs, we recently announced that Aera has joined with GlassPoint Solar to build one of the largest solar energy fields of its kind in California to power our Belridge Field.

Here in Santa Barbara at our East Cat Canyon project, many buildings will be powered by solar energy and our tanker trucks will run on clean burning natural gas.

Additionally, we’ll reduce project greenhouse gas emissions in part through carbon farming at our proposed Conservation Area, and by purchasing electric shuttle buses for local non-profit organizations.

“Aera is committed to safe, responsible operations and is thrilled to extend our environmental leadership by using solar to power our production,” stated Aera Energy CEO Christina Sistrunk. “But while renewables are emerging and growing as an important energy source, leaving oil in the ground is not yet a viable option for meeting all of California’s diverse energy needs.”

For the foreseeable future, oil and natural gas will be essential to producing the fuels on which county residents and other Californians rely for transportation, agriculture and to heat and cool their homes.

And importantly, all the oil produced from Aera’s East Cat Canyon field will be refined in California, reducing the need to import oil from foreign countries that operate under less rigorous environmental and safety practices.

Aera is proud to be an active part of California’s low carbon future, leading the industry by adopting bold solutions to deliver essential energy, more efficiently. Whether producing that energy in the form of conventional or renewable sources, we will continue to do so safely and responsibly, while meeting and often exceeding regional, state and federal regulations designed to protect human health and the environment.

With the numerous subjects deserving comment — the end of the money bail system, the limiting of felony murder charges — I must comment on another recent but obscure “hot topic.”

It is the Santa Barbara County supervisors’ meeting concerning the supplemental environmental impact report for the proposed wind farm near Lompoc. I have to agree with Andy Caldwell and COLAB, that this issue needs more press coverage, and that it needs the scrutiny meted out to other industries.

It seems like every industry that does business in the county is scrutinized and held up to a higher standard than wind or solar. Wind is the topic here, and its effects on birds (some endangered), and bats is getting a pass. This seems to be the easy way out, and beneath anyone who thinks otherwise. Sierra Club are you listening?

Again, with all the regulations for oil, farming (with the exception of marijuana), wineries, tourism, housing, and on and on, it seems that this industry is a no-brainer and easy. I hope that the county planning department and the supervisors will really look hard into this, and not just for the aesthetics as is the case for many projects in the county.

NIMBYism seems to control things. Please, please just once consider everything, we need renewable energy, but not at the cost of losing another valuable resource.