Santa Barbara County
Federal Five Year OCS Proposed Program
On January 8, 2018, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) proposed wholesale leasing of the entire western coast of the US, including all of Santa Barbara County. Fortunately, that plan was rejected by the Biden administration in 2021.
Status: On June 30, 2022, the Department of the Interior issued a new Draft 2023-2028 Five Year Leasing Plan. There are no leases proposed for the Pacific Region.
Sentinel Oil Trucking Proposal
Sentinel Peak is proposing to truck 7 trucks of oil per day for up to 50 years from Santa Maria to Coalinga. CEQA review-MND-was completed by county staff. The project was approved by Planning Director and appealed to Planning Commission by SBCAN and CPA. PC hearings on August 14, October 30th and December 11 were postponed to February 12. GOO! opposed project due to the risk of an oil spill.
Status: On February 12, the applicant requested a 3-month continuance, but the PC decided to take the item off the agenda until Sentinel is ready to calendar it.
Sable Oil Pipeline Restart
Sable Oil company which now owns the SYU platforms, on and offshore pipelines and the POPCO onshore plant proposes to restart the existing 901/903 (now 324/325) pipeline that ruptured in 2015, spilling more than 450,000 gallons of heavy crude onto the Gaviota Coast. The County has no land use authority on the restart, therefore no CEQA review. The State Fire Marshall has jurisdiction over the existing pipeline, however PHMSA, a federal agency, also has a role to play. Prior to the transfer of the restart project to the State Fire Marshall, PHMSA issued a Consent Decree containing corrective action orders to repair the existing pipeline, however those orders were deferred until a decision was made as to whether or not that pipeline would be abandoned or restarted. The pipeline can only be restarted if all of the anomalies are repaired and 100% of the standards set in the Consent Decree for safety, regulatory requirements for pipeline integrity, and BACT per AB 864, are met.
Numerous agencies have a role to play in whether or not the pipeline can be restarted, including: the California Coastal Commission, the State Parks and Recreation Department, the Department of Conservation-Cal-GEM Division, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Office of the State Fire Marshall, Central Coast and Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the State Lands Commission and likely the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The roles of these agencies are varied, from actual permit requirements (CCC) to the need for a new easement at Gaviota State Beach (State Parks). In order to move forward with their proposed project, Sable will need to get sign-off from all of these agencies.
Status: Sable is in various stages of trying to satisfy the requirements of these agencies. The status of those efforts is changing weekly.
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On April 10th, in an unprecedented action, the California Coastal Commission fined Sable $18 million (the largest fine ever levied in its history) for Sable's continuing work on its pipeline in violation of the Commission's Cease and Desist Orders.
Pt. Arguello Platforms Decommissioning
Freeport McMoran is responsible for plugging and abandoning the wells on Platforms Hidalgo (14 wells), Harvest (19 wells) and Hermosa (13 wells). Chevron is responsible for decommissioning the platforms and the Gaviota Onshore Processing facility. Plugging and Abandonment activities on the platforms were completed in 2021.
Status: The Draft Programmatic EIS for decommissioning of platforms in federal waters was released on October 12, 2022. Following comments to that document, the Final EIS and Record of Decision were released. Based on environmental impacts, safety issues and use conflicts, the preferred alternative is for full removal. The environmentally preferred alternative is for partial removal, with everything above 85 feet being removed. A project-specific EIS will be required for each individual platform.
Offshore Wind Energy
Offshore: Wind energy proposals have been made in both State waters near VAFB (CADEMO and BW-IDEOL) and in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area in federal waters.
State Waters: Two projects were proposed off VSFB. In October, 2021, the State Lands Commission voted to allow these two projects to proceed to the leasing process. Comments on
the Preliminary Environmental Assessment for leasing were due on 9-13-21. The Cademo project is now moving forward, however the second project was withdrawn. Scoping for the Cademo DRAFT EIR/EIS is expected to begin in mid-2025.
Federal Waters: A Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No significant Impact has been issued for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area in 2022. The Coastal Commission conditionally approved a CZMA federal consistency determination at its June 8-10, 2022 meeting. Lease sales for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (and Humboldt) were held on December 6, 2022, but were just recently “issued”. A draft site assessment and characterization is being worked on now for the Morro Bay Wind Area. This Strategic Plan will include surveys and other information on ports and transmission.
Goleta/Gaviota
South Ellwood Platform Holly and Ellwood Onshore Facility (EOF) Decommissioning
A number of projects were proposed for the full development of the Ellwood Field. Most recently Venoco, Inc. resubmitted an application to the SLC to extend the eastern boundary of State offshore lease (3242.1). The DEIR was released on September 16, 2016, however, the project stalled and Venoco declared bankruptcy.
Plugging and abandonment activities, which commenced in October, 2019 and then placed on hold due to Covid-19, were restarted in October, 2021. The first set of wells were plugged and abandoned using coiled tubing (12-16 wells). The balance of the wells were plugged and abandoned using a drill rig. All 30 of the oil wells on Platform Holly have been permanently plugged and abandoned as of September, 2024.
EOF Decommissioning: Due to the decommissioning of the Lease 421 piers and the completion of P and A activities on Platform Holly, the EOF was placed in a mothball condition and returned to the Venoco Trustee at the end of May, 2023. The Venoco Trustee has since sold the property to Bel Canyon Recreation for an RV Campground.
Status: The City of Goleta has jurisdiction over the ultimate decommissioning of the EOF which will occur now that the wells on Platform Holly have been plugged and abandoned. It is estimated that the remediation of the oil well will cost $9+ million and that remediation of the entire site could cost $50+ million.
Carpinteria
Summerland Legacy Wells
In August of 2015, the Becker Well, located on Summerland Beach below Lookout Park, began significant leaking necessitating the closure of that beach for four days. The State Lands Commission conducted an investigation and assessment of the Becker Well, and in October, 2015 obtained permits to excavate and uncover the well to assess its physical condition. The Summerland Becker and Legacy Wells Abandonment and Remediation FEIR was certified and a permit approved by the State Lands Commission on 8-17-17.
Status: Remediation of the Becker well was completed in 2018. Since then, remediation was completed on the Treadwell and Northstar wells (2020), the Duquesne Wharf and CH Olsson and wells (2021), the Treadwell 1 and 5 wells (2023 and Wells A and B (2025).
The State Lands Commission is working on a legacy wells inventory. A paper records search of the 198 pre-1938 (category one-high priority) wells revealed that 190 are in Summerland and 8 are in Ellwood (Goleta). Four leaking wells were identified in Summerland. In addition, as a result of the February, 2017 winter storms, the beach at Summerland was severely eroded, exposing several additional legacy wells, two of which were previously unknown to the State Lands Commission.
Carpinteria Decommissioning Projects
Chevron has taken possession of the former Venoco Carpinteria facilities, including two federal offshore platforms (Grace and Gail) and the onshore processing plant. Chevron has indicated its intention to decommission the facilities.
Status: Plug and Abandonment activities have been completed on Platform Grace (28 wells) and are continuing on Platform Gail (28 wells), which will be the largest platform to be decommissioned in the USA. Platforms A, B and C (DCOR) which are in the Dos Cuadras Field, are still operating.
The Carpinteria City Comprehensive Zoning Code update initiated in 2015 could include the re-designation and rezoning of the Carpinteria oil and gas facility to a non-industrial use similar to the Goleta EOF. An NOP on the Zoning code update (including oil regulation) was released on August 1, 2022.
The Carone Petroleum Company proposed to develop State Oil and Gas Leases 4000, 7911 and 3133 from a federal platform, Platform Hogan, installed in 1967, and send the oil to the La Conchita onshore facility. However, on June 28, the State Lands Commission voted to terminate State Leases 3133.1, 4000 and 7911, the last active leases in State waters offshore SB County, for failure to pay rent for four years. These leases are now part of the California Coastal Sanctuary. With the leases now terminated, federal Platforms Hogan and Houchin, which are no longer functioning, expired 10-21-20.
Status: Preparation is now occurring for P and A activities to begin on Platforms Hogan (52 wells) and Houchin (Signal Hill/Conoco Phillips).
Chevron Debris/Shell Mounds
These debris/shell mounds were left behind after the four “H” Platforms were removed from the Santa Barbara Channel in 1996. Conditions on the State Lands and Coastal Commissions’ permits require that the area beneath the platforms be restored to a natural condition and be “trawlable”. Due to these debris/shell mounds, these requirements have not been met.
SLC received an application to leave the mounds in place and provide for mitigation at Carpinteria Salt Marsh. The DEIR was supposed to be released in 2015, however SLC staff instead initiated an environmental analysis that will yield the same information as the EIR and will consider the leave in place with mitigation project.
Status: State Lands Commission staff is focusing on the options available to address the shell mounds issue. SLC staff hired a consultant to prepare a "white paper" on the history of the shell mounds issue and an environmental assessment of the various options for addressing the situation. The draft assessment was completed in 2024. The Commission held a public comment hearing on April 2, 2025. Written comments are due on April 30th.