Private Oil Deal Could Set Precedent for Renewed Offshore Drilling along the California Coast

BY ANNE SOBLE

As city, state and federal lawmakers have begun asking questions and challenging assumptions, Plains Exploration and Production’s Tranquillon Ridge oil drilling proposal for off the coast of Santa Barbara could be taking on water.

A package brokered for the firm known as PXP by the Environmental Defense Center with two private Santa Barbara civic groups largely remained under the radar as it went through the county approval process, but a recent wave of letters from officials in Malibu and other coastal communities have put it squarely in the spotlight.

The Malibu City Council and the Malibu Coastal Lands Conservancy, the group that helped fund the successful effort to kill a liquefied natural gas terminal off the local coast in 2007, are opposing the project.

Details about the PXP package are available in an article in this week’s print and online editions of the Malibu Surfside News. The News ran a report on the PXP project on its Blog last weekend, when word of the matter going before the California State Lands Commission on Thursday, Jan. 29, started raising antennae among area environmentalists.

A grassroots campaign is currently underway to try to marshal opposition to the plan that would allow slant drilling of 17 new wells in state tidelands from Platform Irene, a facility with an oil spill record, the first such drilling allowed in 40 years. In return, PXP would shut down its operations by 2022, and make land donations and contribute funding for air and water quality control programs in the Santa Barbara area.

Local enviros are concerned approval by the three-member CSLC would set a precedent and open the door to more new offshore drilling along the entire California coast, including Malibu, as well as undermine efforts to get the Obama administration to reinstate the federal drilling moratorium.

Among their concerns, critics point to the ever-present danger of oil spills. Last December, a nearly 2000-gallon spill occurred from the same platform that ruptured 40 years ago on Jan. 28,  creating the disastrous multi-million-gallon Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969. Of the over three-dozen offshore spills greater than 40,000 gallons since then, one-third have occurred within the last 10 years, despite the industry’s claims of improved safeguards.

Critics say environmental concern and sound public energy policy confirm that drilling proposals are shortsighted, irresponsible and based on misconceptions about the world oil market; the risk to coastal ecosystems and wildlife, quality of life, as well as tourism and fishing industries, is too great; and increased offshore drilling is not the answer to energy problems.

The State Lands Commission staff has recommended rejection, saying there is no guarantee a key element of the PXP package, which is essentially a contractual agreement between private parties, the eventual shut-down of its drilling operations, can be enforced. The State AG’s office has raised concerns about confidentiality requirements of the agreement that may preclude full disclosure of all of its terms.

If approved by the CSLC, the proposal would then go before the California Coastal Commission, probably at its February meeting. Although the Coastal Commission has the power to regulate coastal development, it has limited authority on offshore projects, and can only vote on the extent of a project’s mitigation measures, not veto it as bad public policy.

Opponents are trying to organize a late-hour email campaign against the project, urging residents to address their concerns to: Gail Newton, Division Chief Environmental Planning, California State Lands Commission, at newtong@slc.ca.gov

Thursday’s State Lands meeting is scheduled for noon at the Hotel Mar Monte in the El Cabrillo Room on the second floor. 1111 East Cabrillo Blvd.
Santa Barbara.