Watch: Trump's New Blank Check for Sable Offshore Oil; Endangered Species Act Endangered; Political Fallout from Rent Control Clash
Newsmakers' All-Star Panel of Top Local Journalists returns, as Nick Welsh, Callie Fausey and Josh Molina join the genial host to break down Santa Barbara's biggest news stories of the week.
In a power grab corrupt and odious even by the unfathomably low standards of the Trump Administration, the House of Representatives last week approved a measure to wipe out all state, local, and other legal authority over the Sable Offshore oil company’s operations in Santa Barbara County.
A very special interest amendment to the annual military spending bill, sponsored by the Republican congressman from Sable’s home district in Houston and approved by one vote in the GOP-held House, would give the Pentagon absolute sway over the company’s actions, brushing away reams of pending regulatory and legal objections to the rogue oil outfit’s reckless behavior, and handing jurisdiction to Pete Hegseth, the boozy Fox News weekend host who Trump installed as what he insists on calling the “Secretary of War.” Nick Welsh reported:
“The amendment language would make such authorization irrevocable and irreversible, no matter how various state and federal courts, now deliberating over various legal controversies surrounding Sable’s production plans and jurisdictional supremacy, might rule.”
On this week’s episode of Newsmakers TV, Nick returns to reprise his reporting on the issue, and to handicap the chances of California’s two U.S. Senators heading off the disastrous matter when the Defense spending bill comes before them.
Callie Fausey joins the gang with a breakdown of how the Administration is simultaneously trying to dismantle the federal Endangered Species Act, by redefining what it means to “harm” a species, while Josh Molina updates the latest sturm und drang from Santa Barbara City Hall over the city’s rent control ordinance.
Plus: the heart-breaking story of the deaths of two newborn red pandas at the Zoo, a new twist in local efforts to handle the homeless, and Josh shares about his big social media breakthrough, with an account of his Joe Rogan-length podcast interview with Santa Barbara’s biggest Instagram star.
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
Check out the latest episode via YouTube below or by clicking this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on SoundCloud. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.
Image: Los Angeles Times.