Several Santa Barbara County agencies have key engineering review responsibilities for new develo... more Several Santa Barbara County agencies have key engineering review responsibilities for new development. The magnitude of issues raised and the level of engineering review required for large oil and gas processing and transportation facilities precludes development of final engineering design until after discretionary approval of the project and imposition of environmental protection measures. Large projects result in literally hundreds of permit conditions designed to reduce or eliminate various adverse effects across a wide range of issue areas. Frequently, full mitigation of a potential adverse effect may only be accomplished at the expense of an increased impact in a different issue area. Balancing of conflicting mitigation measures often involves compromises among two or more agencies with strong legal mandates. As part of the County's regulation of large oil and gas processing facilities, a Systems Safety and Reliability Review Committee (SSRRC) comprising seven specific Co...
The Santa Barbara and Ventura region of California was the location of some of the earliest oil a... more The Santa Barbara and Ventura region of California was the location of some of the earliest oil and gas development in the country. Spiraling oil prices, improved technologies and better exploratory data resulted in an explosion in the pace of exploitation in the 1980's. Faced with an unprecedented number of development and transportation project applications, Santa Barbara County's attention shifted to permit processing. Major portions of the existing policy apparatus were clearly inadequate to provide local decision makers with the necessary context for making oil and gas project decisions. The role of the county changed again as the projects secured permits and the huge construction jobs began. The county became a watchdog over the massive projects to ensure that environmental protection conditions were met.
Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (County), California, USA dates back to ... more Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (County), California, USA dates back to 1950. This interest developed shortly after the discoveries of Drs. Schaefer and Vonnegut in the late 1940’s that established a scientific basis for weather modification (commonly referred to as cloud seeding). Two weather modification research programs have been conducted in the County. Numerous winter season operational cloud seeding projects have been conducted in the County dating back to 1950.
California Assembly Bill 3180 requires that the implementation of environmental mitigation measur... more California Assembly Bill 3180 requires that the implementation of environmental mitigation measures be monitored for compliance during project development. Permit compliance programs for large development projects can be highly complex. In response to large scale oil and gas development on the Santa Barbara Channel coast, Santa Barbara County has developed a sophisticated Permit Compliance Program. Program issues include legal basis, funding, program development, environmental quality assurance programs, permit condition compliance status databases, inter-agency enforcement agreements, and mitigation measure effectiveness studies. Santa Barbara County has developed a 100% cost recovery program for its Permit Compliance Program. This program started with a Board of Supervisors' formal policy of not net County cost for permit processing activities of the various County Departments. Formal Cost Reimbursement Agreements are executed before applications are deemed complete. Permit co...
Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (the County), California, USA dates back... more Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (the County), California, USA dates back to 1950. This interest developed shortly after the discoveries of Drs. Schaefer and Vonnegut in the late 1940’s that established a scientific basis for weather modification (commonly referred to as cloud seeding). Two weather modification research programs have been conducted in the County. Numerous winter season operational cloud seeding projects have been conducted in the County dating back to 1950. This interest in cloud seeding has been driven by two primary water needs in the County: drinking water supplies and agriculture. Water is a valuable commodity to both groups due to the amounts and seasonality of rainfall in the County. The County enjoys a Mediterranean climate. The months of November through March typically produce most of the rainfall in the County. Operational winter seeding projects were conducted in the County from 1950-1955 utilizing ground based silver iodide genera...
Several Santa Barbara County agencies have key engineering review responsibilities for new develo... more Several Santa Barbara County agencies have key engineering review responsibilities for new development. The magnitude of issues raised and the level of engineering review required for large oil and gas processing and transportation facilities precludes development of final engineering design until after discretionary approval of the project and imposition of environmental protection measures. Large projects result in literally hundreds of permit conditions designed to reduce or eliminate various adverse effects across a wide range of issue areas. Frequently, full mitigation of a potential adverse effect may only be accomplished at the expense of an increased impact in a different issue area. Balancing of conflicting mitigation measures often involves compromises among two or more agencies with strong legal mandates. As part of the County's regulation of large oil and gas processing facilities, a Systems Safety and Reliability Review Committee (SSRRC) comprising seven specific Co...
The Santa Barbara and Ventura region of California was the location of some of the earliest oil a... more The Santa Barbara and Ventura region of California was the location of some of the earliest oil and gas development in the country. Spiraling oil prices, improved technologies and better exploratory data resulted in an explosion in the pace of exploitation in the 1980's. Faced with an unprecedented number of development and transportation project applications, Santa Barbara County's attention shifted to permit processing. Major portions of the existing policy apparatus were clearly inadequate to provide local decision makers with the necessary context for making oil and gas project decisions. The role of the county changed again as the projects secured permits and the huge construction jobs began. The county became a watchdog over the massive projects to ensure that environmental protection conditions were met.
Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (County), California, USA dates back to ... more Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (County), California, USA dates back to 1950. This interest developed shortly after the discoveries of Drs. Schaefer and Vonnegut in the late 1940’s that established a scientific basis for weather modification (commonly referred to as cloud seeding). Two weather modification research programs have been conducted in the County. Numerous winter season operational cloud seeding projects have been conducted in the County dating back to 1950.
California Assembly Bill 3180 requires that the implementation of environmental mitigation measur... more California Assembly Bill 3180 requires that the implementation of environmental mitigation measures be monitored for compliance during project development. Permit compliance programs for large development projects can be highly complex. In response to large scale oil and gas development on the Santa Barbara Channel coast, Santa Barbara County has developed a sophisticated Permit Compliance Program. Program issues include legal basis, funding, program development, environmental quality assurance programs, permit condition compliance status databases, inter-agency enforcement agreements, and mitigation measure effectiveness studies. Santa Barbara County has developed a 100% cost recovery program for its Permit Compliance Program. This program started with a Board of Supervisors' formal policy of not net County cost for permit processing activities of the various County Departments. Formal Cost Reimbursement Agreements are executed before applications are deemed complete. Permit co...
Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (the County), California, USA dates back... more Interest in weather modification in Santa Barbara County (the County), California, USA dates back to 1950. This interest developed shortly after the discoveries of Drs. Schaefer and Vonnegut in the late 1940’s that established a scientific basis for weather modification (commonly referred to as cloud seeding). Two weather modification research programs have been conducted in the County. Numerous winter season operational cloud seeding projects have been conducted in the County dating back to 1950. This interest in cloud seeding has been driven by two primary water needs in the County: drinking water supplies and agriculture. Water is a valuable commodity to both groups due to the amounts and seasonality of rainfall in the County. The County enjoys a Mediterranean climate. The months of November through March typically produce most of the rainfall in the County. Operational winter seeding projects were conducted in the County from 1950-1955 utilizing ground based silver iodide genera...
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