Santa Barbara County is weighing ordinances to phase out onshore oil and gas development in the county. The first would prohibit new drilling and the second would phase out existing operations. A prohibition on new drilling is expected to have minimal effects on jobs because current activities are allowed to continue.

However, the Board of Supervisors has also asked for a plan to phase out existing oil and gas operations, which will affect existing jobs. This report synthesizes workforce data, a novel county-wide public opinion survey, and interviews with oil and gas workers to help decision-makers plan the next step.

Authors: Olivia Quinn, Haven Parker, Eleanor Thomas, Nathan Mariano, Lucas Boyd, Gabriel De Roche 

Principal Investigators: Paasha Mahdavi and Carmen Rhodes