Rabin’s Summerland Oil Short Film Heads to Washington, D.C.
On the Wave Productions’ 22-minute documentary short film titled, Greetings from Summerland, Birthplace of Offshore Oil, is headed to Washington, D.C.’s bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus. The film was produced and directed by filmmakers Harry Rabin and Joey Szalkiewicz. It premiered at the SBIFF and is scheduled for the Marjorie Luke Theatre for Earth Day.
Its undeniable success is succinctly outlining the issues that oil development, both on and offshore at Summerland, presents to our environment globally. The film highlights cogent, science-backed points that methane gas is the most urgent environmental contributor to global warming. The film provides the history of unregulated oil drilling, well abandonment, and Rabin’s work with scientist Dr. Ira Leifer as the project leaders in Heal the Ocean’s current Summerland Oil Mitigation Study (SOMS).
Liefer’s straightforward candor about oil drilling, methane gas, and predictive remediation results are a welcome invitation to globally connect on the issue. To him, this is science fact, not science fiction, politics, or religion. To quote Dr. Leifer, “This is a planetary issue and we humans as a planetary species need to address the issues of methane now or the ants will thank us.”
One unique note from the film is Bob Ratcliffe’s 8mm camera footage (1968) of him sealing wellheads in Summerland – under CA State Lands Commission’s (CSLC) direction, he was instructed to use cement and explosives to effectively seal these wellheads at $500 each.
The film’s impact transcends the film festival. Rabin, in our interview, explained, “I called Congressman Salud Carbajal to attend the premiere of our film at the SBIFF. He was in Washington and couldn’t make it but wanted to see it. I arranged a private viewing for him at our production studio. After viewing it Carbajal said, ‘Ok we need to bring this film to Washington, D.C. to show to the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, [Carbajal is a member], and maybe they’ll get it.’ We are waiting to hear on the date from Salud.”
The caucus is led by co-chairs Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY-2nd) and Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-6th). Their site describes the team as “working together to combat climate change while protecting the economic prosperity of the United States,” and goes on to explain “The group is dedicated to building a constructive dialogue about climate change, economics, energy, and conservation among Members of Congress, global leaders, environmental organizations, and business leaders.” (https://climatesolutionscaucus-garbarino.house.gov)
The U.S. Congress’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (January 2023) directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish programs to inventory and properly close orphaned wells nationwide. Funding is $4.7 billion for orphan well plugging, remediation and surface area restoration activities on federal, Tribal, state, and private lands. It works to support the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan.
Multiple companies are sprouting nationally with bids to do the job, like the Well Done Organization [WDO]. They won the bid for Santa Barbara County and will start screening and plugging wells in Santa Maria and Orcutt, date TBA.
Rabin’s short film is the driving force for On the Wave Production’s full-length feature documentary currently in production titled, Chasing Oil. He said the Redford Center has accepted the film for fiscal sponsorship and as funds begin to come in, they are moving forward with production. The film presents both climate change issues and the innovations globally that unite us to avert the crisis.
After a private screening of the short with Rabin, we talked. Here’s our interview:
Q. How long did it take to make Greetings from Summerland, Birthplace of Offshore Oil?
A. From concept to completion it took about six months and 21 days, at over seven locations. I’ve been working on this issue with Hillary Hauser of Heal the Ocean since Hannah-Beth Jackson secured funding, SB44, that enabled CSLC to begin abandonment, planning, and operations that started with Summerland’s Becker Well in 2017. My responsibility began with field work to locate on and offshore leaking wellheads and provide initial documentation and regular monitoring of the area. So, working hand in hand with CSLC and their contractors became the norm with each subsequent well that would get on the schedule for abandonment, which to date has been seven wells.
Why do the films now?
Now is the time to do these documentaries focused on methane, which is the largest contributor to global warming. It traps warm air in our atmosphere 28 times more powerfully than CO2. Researchers have documented in some cases that methane is being released from abandoned well fields at a higher percentage than active ones. The point of the films is to make the public and our government aware of the problem and how to fix it.
And the feature film, Chasing Oil?
The feature film’s goal is to awaken humanity – through thought-provoking and visually captivating content – of the real threat that anthropogenically-caused methane emissions pose to all life on our planet, and most important will demonstrate that we can fix this and that the positive work has already begun. We are exploring areas across the U.S. with the same or similar issues as Summerland. The U.S. has over two million orphaned wells in need of proper abandonment and the world has over 29 million.
Off-shore wells began in Santa Barbara, and the first significant oil spill was here in 1969, bringing global awareness to this issue. Earth Day was born in SB and is now celebrated worldwide. SB has been ground zero on the negative – and now hopefully on the positive – issues addressing fossil fuels.
Methane, from cows to oil wells…
The methane from cows is indeed a huge issue. But as Dr. Leifer said, we are in a planetary shift caused by methane. Methane is a breakdown or decay of organic material above and within the earth. Yes, it is natural, but the destructive amounts come from the anthropogenic emissions; in other words, human-influenced sources. What many don’t realize is that fracking exacerbates the problem. It creates more pathways, cracks and fractures that allow methane to escape into the atmosphere, and into ground water reservoirs and oceans. It’s all connected!
Gas and oil wells are easy to go after and fix. We sealed seven wells in Summerland in the past year. It sets a precedent, effective solutions are here now. Our SOMS study is providing data to improve the abandonment process. We are already seeing ways to accomplish abandonments in shorter time windows and for less money. It has always been trial and error and a learning process but with today’s technologies we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
How would you describe your mission?
We, the human race, must assume the role of custodians of the Earth now. As a species that can now influence our planet’s future, even its weather, we need to take better care of it, for us and future generations. We were not put here to be creating extinction events. As documentary filmmakers it is our responsibility through this brilliant media of film to portray a situation that in turn will create awareness and positive impact.
To support the documentary, Chasing Oil, see the 411 and QR code!
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