California Rejects Offshore Drilling Plan

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State regulators rejected a compromise that would have closed four offshore oil platforms and allowed new drilling for the first time in forty years.

Last summer, when a compromise deal to shutter some platforms in exchange for opening new ones was first approved by Santa Barbara County, it was hailed by some as ‘win-win’ because it put an end-date on offshore oil and gas development in the area. But over the last few months, public opposition galvanized against the proposed new wells.

The 2-1 vote on Thursday by the State Lands Commission to reject the Tranquillon Ridge lease was the culmination of that public opposition, opposition that began nearly forty years to the day earlier, when the Santa Barbara coast suffered from a major oil spill.

Lt. Governor John Garamendi, one of three members of the lands panel, said allowing any drilling in state waters would send the wrong message to oil companies, giving them the impression that California was opening up for business.

Before the vote, Garamendi said, “I believe very strongly that we’ve got to move away from oil, gas and other carbon-based fuels. A new oil lease in my view will simply make it easier for us to stay with them.”

Plains Exploration and Production Company had proposed drilling up to 17 new wells with extended reach drilling technology from federal Platform Irene and into the Tranquillon Ridge oil field, on state lands.

Even some environmentalists had praised the compromise because it created a sunset for the drilling activity, and as part of the agreement, all operations would have ceased on or before December 31, 2022. But the State Lands Commission said there was no way to enforce the proposed shuttering date, because leases have historically been open-ended.

Without that agreement, some are concerned the currently operational (and less productive) platforms will never close.