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By Stephen Nellis / Friday, November 22nd, 2013 / Central Coast, Real Estate, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Emissions cap prompts oil firm backlash
Santa Barbara County’s decision to impose a strict cap on carbon emissions from a proposed oil project puts the county at a competitive disadvantage in California and likely will cut into the money energy firms pump into the regional economy.
The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Nov. 12 to require Santa Maria Energy to cap its carbon emissions at 10,000 tons per year. Santa Maria Energy had proposed 136 wells for a site near Orcutt.
Santa Barbara County’s oil is thick and viscous. In order to extract it, companies inject steam into wells to soften the oil. Burning natural gas to create the steam is what generates the bulk of carbon emissions.
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By Patrick Kulp / Friday, November 15th, 2013 / Central Coast, Real Estate, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Study: Skilled workers priced out of San Luis Obispo
The findings highlight a pervasive mismatch between the high price of even starter homes and the number of jobs that pay wages high enough to support those prices. Experts say the gap is a significant roadblock to the state’s economic growth.
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By Tom Bronzini / Friday, November 15th, 2013 / Central Coast, Columns, Tourism, Wine & Viticulture / Comments Off on Shale Oak Winery turns heads with design and green focus
Shale Oak Winery’s tasting room in Paso Robles is one of the more eye-catching in the area with its colorful, angular facade of stained glass in a geometric pattern.
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By Staff Report / Tuesday, November 5th, 2013 / Central Coast, East Ventura County, South Coast, Tourism, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on 2014 Amgen Tour set to cycle through four of region’s cities
The 2014 Amgen Tour of California, the largest cycling race in the U.S., will visit four cities in the Tri-Counties in May. The eight-day annual event will roll through Cambria, Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara before concluding at the finish line in Thousand Oaks.
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By Staff Report / Monday, November 4th, 2013 / Central Coast, Latest news, South Coast, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Economists call on Santa Barbara County to embrace economic development
Santa Barbara County needs to rethink the role of economic development if it is going to retain upper middle class and head of household jobs.
That was the theme of the Oct. 31 annual summit of the Santa Barbara Technology & Industry Association. Held on Halloween day at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott hotel in Buellton, the event painted a scary economic future for the county.
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By Stephen Nellis / Friday, November 1st, 2013 / Central Coast, Columns, Small Business, Technology / Comments Off on With merger and TechPitch win, SLO’s startups are on the fast track
In the past couple of weeks, Alex Minicucci has successfully merged his fast-growing mobile marketing company with a publicly traded firm out of Iowa. Meanwhile, an entrepreneurial emergency room doctor from Nipomo came up a with a brilliantly simple solution for holding an iPad one handed that swept the most comprehensive tech pitch night on the Central Coast to date.
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