In what was likely the most expensive election campaign ever waged in San Luis Obispo County, 55.7 percent of local voters rejected Measure G, a proposed ban on fracking and oil expansion on county lands, according to unofficial election night results.
After qualifying for the Nov. 6 ballot with more than 20,000 signatures, Measure G faced an opposition backed by $8 million from the oil and gas industry. At the core of the “no” campaign was the claim that the measure would shut down existing local oil operations—a message reinforced by innumerable mailers and advertisements that were pushed across the county.
“We’re obviously pleased with the results,” said Matt Cunningham, spokesman for the No on G campaign. “We always thought if we presented voters with information about the real impacts of Measure G, they’d come to the right decision, and they did.”
Measure G backers vociferously denied the measure would’ve shut down existing operations—arguing that it banned just new oil drilling and fracking—but Yes on G campaign co-chair Charles Varni told New Times his group lacked the resources to effectively counter their opponent’s rhetoric.
“It scared people and it was all fundamentally based on mistruths that we did not have the capacity to respond to in a meaningful way,” Varni said, adding, “This really wasn’t an exercise in democracy. This was never a level playing field.”
The fight over oil and gas in SLO County isn’t over. Varni said the organization that pushed the measure, The Coalition to Protect SLO County, is poised to challenge any proposed expansion of local oil production.
“There will be no proposals made that we will not be challenging,” Varni said. “We are in the fight.”
This article appears in Nov 8-18, 2018.
SLO county voters have missed a great opportunity to stop the great expansion of big oil in our county. Given this decision and oil prices, we’re now likely to see more wild-wild west oil expansion applications in areas where big oil has been kept at bay, we’ll see uncontrolled risk to our water aquifers, and most concerning – this decision increases a future risk of industrial accidents and a future with fracking in our county…. but, the voters have spoken.
The oil companies won the right to expand and frack. The people of San Luis Obispo have given them permission to put our water in jeopardy and expand the pollution of our ground water. Who won this contest? I think we all loss.
It is a shame that the voters who have were unduly influenced by misinformation spread through very mode of communication. It was a campaign of false advertising. But many people believed the advertising from the oil companies. As a voter one must be very careful to find out who is really putting out the information. Find out who is paying for the advertising. Eight million dollars spent by the oil companies appears to be enough to buy the opportunity to drill baby drill and frack out earthquack prone lands of SLO County. . Pretty cheap price actually when you think about it. How sad is that. I hope in the next fight the voters will be better informed, read the measure, and vote in their own best interest. We voters just helped big oil to destroy our environment only to line the pockets of oil executives and shareholders. Our future must be a clean energy future. Our water, our way of life, and our planet are on the line.
Rock On, my measure G friends!
We need fighters, we will win eventually, even if we never have that money or the LIES oil companies throw around.
The premise of all these comments seems to be that huge changes are coming and that the oil companies won something. To me, it appears land owners simply maintained their rights that Measure G attempted to take away. I believe the voters saw through the fear tactics, just like the ones Mr. Timewell put in his comment. A NO on G vote didn’t signal ignorance, as Ms. Christensen suggests, but rather an indication that voters saw through the speculative fallacies of the Yes on G campaign. It does not make sense to me that everyone who read Measure G and voted NO were labeled as “lairs” and “bought and paid for by big oil”. The reality is the language of the Measure was inconsistent and poorly written. Yes on G voters continued to convey the intent of Measure without addressing the reality of its contradictory language.
On the bright side, our future CAN move towards other sources of energy. There are two ways to do this. First, advocate for what you believe in WITHOUT trying to block, limit, or eliminate what you don’t want. Second, if you don’t want to support “big oil”, stop using the products provided by them. It is the most simple solution. Removing demand will inevitably remove the supply.
Hopefully we can all move forward and not get caught up in a hypothetical spiral of “what ifs”.
Voice of Reason I thought by now youd likely cashed your last BIG OIL pay check (at least the one paying you to disrupt the SLO county election), Im sure youll be moving on soon to spin the same old BIG OIL lies in another community. Then between elections, I picture you focused on other client-driven shit work thats tossed your way, and in your prime maybe you’ll find a real job with another wholesome employer like the tobacco industry.
As you move on to your next paycheck, dont worry, well remain behind to continue our work educating the community, and fighting the BIG OIL expansion planned in our county. We’ll do that while we enjoy living in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Mr. Timewell, all this time and you are still operating under false assumptions about me, even after I’ve told you you are wrong. You are sure I’ll be moving on, just like you were sure I was getting paid, just like you were sure fracking was going to become all the rage in SLO County, just like you were sure water is at risk, just like you were sure Measure G would pass. Looks like the only sure thing around here is your ability to be wrong.
Maybe you should start by educating yourself before you go trying to educate others. On the bright, it’s nice to see that you can post original thoughts rather than the standard copy-paste. Here is a little secret, if you really want to get rid of me, post something based in reality and leave all the what-if nonsense behind.