A year after San Luis Obispo took the lead in Southern California on a gas ban, the coastal town of Santa Barbara was evaluating a similar proposal, and residents were being spammed with texts encouraging opposition to the ban and offering information through a new "grassroots" group: Citizens for Balanced Energy Solutions. Except it wasn't a citizens group at all, it was a front group started by the country's largest gas utility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices