Common sense tells us that oil companies would not donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to Justin Fareed’s congressional campaign if Salud Carbajal actually favored oil drilling offshore the Central Coast. Despite misleading claims by Fareed in recent ads and mailers, Salud Carbajal has always opposed offshore oil drilling.
It’s sickening that big oil’s money is being used to pay for TV ads and mailers attacking Carbajal for “flip-flopping” on offshore drilling. He hasn’t. It is a cynical lie. Don’t be fooled.
A few years ago, Santa Barbara's environmental community worked on a plan to allow limited oil drilling in exchange for guaranteed end dates and permanent removal of offshore platforms and onshore processing facilities. The Environmental Defense Center, of which I was the executive director at the time, led groups like the Sierra Club and Get Oil Out! that supported this new approach to ending Central Coast oil development. Salud Carbajal supported our work to end offshore drilling.