The 2035 Initiative — UC Santa Barbara
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Report

Potential Community & Labor Impacts of an Onshore Oil Phaseout in Santa Barbara County

By Olivia Quinn, Haven Parker, Eleanor Thomas, Nathan Mariano, Lucas Boyd, Gabriel De Roche, Paasha Mahdavi, and Carmen Rhodes · April 2026

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.

Key findings

  • A phaseout of existing onshore oil and gas operations in the County would result in a contraction of the local workforce. However, significant contraction is likely, even without a phaseout policy, due to structural declines in well productivity.
  • Oil and gas workers employed in direct extraction and support activities in Santa Barbara County are disproportionately male and Hispanic, concentrated in the Santa Maria area.
  • When local oil and gas workers have historically left their jobs, they tend to leave Santa Barbara County, rather than transition locally.
  • In semi-structured interviews, oil and gas workers expressed that they have not received adequate support, and want proactive planning rather than reactive responses to layoffs.

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