Santa Barbara Historical Museum

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The beginning of every New Year is an appropriate time for making resolutions about the future, but also an excellent time to reflect upon the past. In terms of the oil industry, there is no better time than now and no better place than Santa Barbara for such an act of retrospection.

January 28, 2009, marked the 40th anniversary of the worst human-made environmental disaster in national history — the catastrophic 1969 oil spill, which released millions of gallons of oil in a black tide. It engulfed the Santa Barbara Channel, contaminated the four Channel Islands, fouled beaches as far south as Los Angeles, and killed untold numbers of birds and marine mammals.

Santa Barbara Historical Museum

Yet, from this tragedy arose triumph. Organizations such as Get Oil Out!, the Environmental Defense Center, and the Community Environmental Council formed in the wake of the spill, and their efforts to increase and enforce environmental protection inspired local, national, and international movements. Landmark legislation was passed in California, including the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Coastal Act, and, later, the California Coastal Sanctuary Act, which prohibited new oil and gas leasing in state waters. Groundbreaking pieces of federal legislation included the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act — each of which remains a cornerstone of environmental protection to this day.

Unfortunately, the fight is not over.

The past year began with spill after spill by onshore oil operator Greka Energy, Inc. Despite calls from the community to shut down Greka, and increased county oversight, the year ended much the same way: three more Greka spills, collectively releasing nearly 12,000 gallons of crude oil and produced water into the environment.

Between these bookends, the middle of the year wasn’t much better. In August, amid financial shortfalls and with the vague assertion that technological improvements would “appreciably mitigate” future offshore oil spills, three Santa Barbara County supervisors sent a letter to California’s governor requesting expanded offshore oil exploration off Santa Barbara’s coast. Ironically, this was followed in early December by a 1,100-gallon spill caused by equipment malfunction at Platform A, the very same platform from which the 1969 spill flowed.

However, 2008 is in the past. We must now look forward to 2009 and beyond.

Santa Barbara Historical Museum

Santa Barbara County continues to face a laundry list of requests for additional oil development. For instance, Venoco Inc. has three pending projects to increase oil development from existing offshore leases. One of these would result in the placement of a 175-foot-tall drilling rig within 1,000 feet of residential neighborhoods.

Another, located in Goleta and aptly named the Full Field Development Project, would result in the extension of Venoco’s existing lease into an area previously quitclaimed to the state in 1991, as part of an agreement for additional drilling rights in Long Beach. This project proposes to increase substantially the life of Platform Holly as well as the Ellwood Onshore Facility. A risky proposition given that both of these were constructed in the mid 1960s, and that the processing facility does not conform to the recreational zoning specified for its location. The third project, also located in Goleta, includes a proposal to re-commission Lease 421 and process oil on piers located directly in the surf zone. Approval would not only increase the spill risk but prevent removal of these aging facilities in the near term.

Unfortunately, on January 29, the day after the anniversary — and GOO’s birthday — the California State Lands Commission failed to approve a proposal that would have truly resulted in “Getting Oil Out!” The Tranquillon Ridge Project included an unprecedented agreement with Plains Exploration & Production that would have resulted in a hard end date of no later than 2022 for the decommissioning of four oil platforms and two processing facilities. Moreover, this unique project would have been carbon neutral and, in addition, would have generated $1.5 million for local hybrid buses as well as the transfer of 3,900 acres of land to public ownership.

It is important to keep in mind the lesson illustrated by the 1969 spill: In crisis lies opportunity. We are now in the midst of a global crisis — 2009 is the time for solutions. Fortunately, solutions abound in Santa Barbara, as we try to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels through conservation, green-job creation, locally and sustainably grown food, renewable resources, and sustainable designs for new and remodeled buildings.

It’s time to accept that “Drill, baby, drill” will only exacerbate global climate change, and that it is the solution to neither our energy crisis, nor our financial problems. The real solutions will lead us to a cleaner, more secure future by simultaneously improving equity, our environment, and our economy.

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