Carp fights oil
Carpinteria’s City Council voted 4-1 on Aug. 10 to appeal a defeat it suffered in a challenge to oil firm Venoco’s efforts to get a drilling initiative on the ballot this fall.
The city council voted in closed session to continue its legal efforts after it lost a Santa Barbara County Superior Court case to stop the initiative, which would fast-track a slant drilling proposal from Venoco in exchange for donations of land and money from the company. Noozhawk. com said it had confirmed with city sources that the legal fight has cost $180,000 so far. Councilmember Joe Armendariz was the lone dissenter. He argued that the city is not likely to win its appeal given a similar appeals case just handed down in a dispute in San Luis Obispo County.
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