SUPERVISORS TO 'REASSESS' OIL FEES: TAXPAYER POCKETS, BEWARE!

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, in its infinite wisdom, has scheduled a dramatic 'hearing' for September 1st to ponder the great mysteries of the 'Coastal Resources Mitigation Fund Santa Ynez Unit Mid-cycle Fee Reassessment.' Don't let the alphabet soup fool you. This is less about responsible resource management and more about how much more money can be squeezed from the county’s actual producers to fund another round of 'green' grants and bureaucratic bloat.

Our local daily, ever so diligently, reported on this agenda item as if it were a simple procedural matter. But The Whipping Post knows better. When these folks start 'reassessing' fees mid-cycle, it’s not because they suddenly found a conscience or a coupon code. It's because some well-connected 'environmental' group's grant application is looking a little lean, or perhaps a supervisor’s favorite non-profit needs a fresh infusion of taxpayer (and oil company) cash to keep the lights on and the virtue-signaling flowing.

Notice how they conveniently want to amend the fund guidelines *and* declare the whole thing exempt from CEQA? That's the sound of the bureaucratic sausage being made – no pesky environmental reviews when it comes to scooping up more cash for their approved narratives. It’s a classic move: declare an emergency, raise the fees, fund your friends, and then pat yourselves on the back for 'protecting the coast' while the rest of us pay more for everything. Meanwhile, the actual energy sector, which keeps our cars running and lights on, is treated like an ATM for every passing progressive fantasy.

This isn't about mitigation; it's about reallocation – from productive industries to politically favored causes. Taxpayers should be ready for the inevitable 'recommendations' which will surely involve more dollars flowing into the usual suspects' coffers, all while they pretend it's for the 'environment.'