Oil and Water

Nearly 10 years ago – on May 19, 2015 – a corroded pipeline near Refugio beach burst, and at least 142,800 gallons of crude oil flowed down a culvert and into the ocean, contaminating one of the most biologically diverse areas of the West Coast. Over 300 dolphins, seals, sea lions, pelicans and other animals washed up dead. Others were found alive and suffering. Beaches and fisheries were closed. The tourism industry took heavy losses. The pipeline’s owner at the time, Plains All American, was convicted of criminal charges and so far has had to pay about $750 million for costs related to the spill.

This was not the first such incident on the Central Coast, and not even the worst. Since the 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill, our magnificent coastline has been a case study of what can happen when a community’s health, beauty, and economy is sacrificed to one industry and its record of disastrous accidents.

You can’t completely clean up an offshore oil spill. The oil sinks into the marine environment, damaging fragile underwater ecosystems, killing or contaminating fish and smaller organisms that are essential links in the food chain, including the food we eat. The environmental damage can last for decades.

So it is imperative that we stay vigilant. Currently three critical decisions are underway that threaten the future of this region:

Restart of oil production on the Gaviota Coast 

The most immediate threat to our region is the proposal to restart production from the Santa Ynez Unit, which includes three platforms and pipelines off the Gaviota Coast, as well as two onshore processing plants and the pipeline that ruptured in 2015.

Last year, an unknown and newly-formed company – Sable Offshore Corp. – purchased this pipeline system used by Plains All American. Sable also took ownership of three offshore platforms (Hondo, Heritage, and Harmony), and the Las Flores Canyon and POPCO processing facilities. They financed the purchase with a loan from the former owner, ExxonMobil, and raised additional funds through a merger with a blank check company, Flame Acquisition Corp. Sable Offshore CEO James Flores previously served as the CEO for oil company Sable Permian, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020. 

On February 25, the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors will consider this change of ownership from Exxon to Sable. This operation has been shut down for the nearly 10 years since the pipeline burst. Restarting a faulty pipeline and allowing the operation of the offshore platforms, subsea pipelines, and onshore production facilities poses unacceptable risks to our coast. Specifically:

– The aging offshore platforms and pipelines are beyond their projected lifespan of 35 and 30 years, respectively, and inspections have documented problems of infrastructure corrosion and leaks. 

– Restarting the pipeline could result in a spill once a year and a rupture every four years according to an administrative draft environmental report prepared for Santa Barbara County. 

– An oil spill threatens sensitive and unique ecosystems. The pipelines traverse the coastline and three counties, and cross rivers and streams, state parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, and the Carrizo Plain National Monument. An offshore spill could affect the newly designated Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The 2015 oil spill spread as far as Orange County and devastated 150 miles of precious coastline and ocean waters.

– Offshore well stimulation, now banned in California, may result from restart because the former owner, ExxonMobil, represented that it needed to use offshore acid well stimulation, which poses more pollution risks.

– The Las Flores Canyon onshore oil facilities are in a high fire area. Since closure, two fires have burned onto the property – the Sherpa Fire in 2016 and the Alisal Fire in 2021 – and the Refugio Fire in 2024 threatened the facility.

– This project would be Santa Barbara’s largest source of greenhouse gas pollution. According to the Air Resources Board, before it shut down in 2015 the project was the County’s largest stationary source of greenhouse gas emissions. Restarting it would put the County’s climate goals totally out of reach. 

– It would be the source of other air pollutants known to cause cancer, asthma, and heart disease. Before closing, Exxon’s Los Flores and Popco were the largest facility source in the county of methane, volatile organic compounds, PM2.5 particulates, and formaldehyde – as well as one of the largest sources for sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, PM10, benzene and hydrochloric acid. 

– Offshore oil is inherently risky and unpopular, with 72% of Californians and 90 coastal municipalities opposing it. 

– Oil spills are bad for business.The Business Alliance for Protecting the Pacific Coast, which represents over 8,100 businesses, warns that spills put our coastal economy at risk. The 2015 oil spill shut down fishing for months and wreaked havoc on the local tourism, lodging, and recreational industries.

– Sable Offshore defied state law and enforcement. On September 27, 2024, the California Coastal Commission issued a Notice of Violation to Sable for unauthorized and unlawful development activities in the coastal zone. Sable received a second warning on October 4. On November 12, the Coastal Commission issued Cease and Desist Order No. ED-24-CD-02 for continuing violations of the Coastal Act. Sable has also served Notices of Violation from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Regional Water Quality Control Board for unpermitted discharges and impacts to waterways.

Offshore Oil Drilling 

As one of his final acts, outgoing President Biden signed an executive order banning all new oil and gas leasing in federal waters of the Bering Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean offshore California. The 1953 law used in the executive order does not allow for any future President to overturn the ban. However, that didn’t stop incoming President Trump from issuing an executive order reversing the ban on January 20. 

This order will be litigated, as was a similar unsuccessful effort during the first Trump administration. If courts are favorable to President Trump, the state will need to vigorously oppose any proposed new federal leasing and enforce existing state laws that prohibit approval of any new infrastructure in support of such leases.

Oil Phase Out

Beyond oil spills and industrial accidents, there are other reasons that it’s past time to aggressively move away from fossil fuels. In Santa Barbara County, the remaining oil deposits are tar-like and incredibly polluting and energy-intensive to extract out of the ground. They are also located under our groundwater reservoirs, putting our drinking water at risk of contamination. 

In addition – like all communities – ours is experiencing the climate related impacts of more than a century of fossil fuel consumption: more severe weather, species extinction, changing ocean chemistry, and projections for significant sea level rise. In Santa Barbara, cycles of higher temperatures, extended droughts, year-round fire seasons, and changes in rainfall patterns (such as microbursts and rainbombs) are the types of climate change impacts linked to catastrophic disasters like the 2017 Thomas Fire and the 2018 Montecito Debris Flow.

To address this increasing threat, the County of Santa Barbara has a goal to cut existing greenhouse gas emissions 50% below 2018 levels by 2030. But to get there it must tackle one of the biggest emitters of emissions in our county: oil and gas facilities. Until now, the County has repeatedly failed to include these “stationary sources” in its Climate Action Plan (CAP). 

Now 10 years in and on the third update to the CAP, we are pleased to see progress, after pressure from our organizations and other climate activists. Last summer the Board of Supervisors asked County staff to come back within six months with options to include oil and gas in the CAP. This item is expected to come before the Board of Supervisors in early April and will need voices of support from the community.

Upcoming related events:

Tuesday, February 25 
8 am pre-hearing press conference and rally
9 am County Board of Supervisors hearing on Sable Pipeline
Santa Barbara County Administration Building, 105 East Anapamu Street

During the meeting, County Supervisors will consider an appeal of the transfer of pipeline permits from ExxonMobil to Sable Offshore approved by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission on October 2024. Community members are encouraged to provide testimony and/or submit written public comments to the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors via email before 5 pm on the day prior to the February 25 meeting.