Climate & Energy

Founded in response to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, EDC has always prioritized action to prevent irresponsible oil drilling. Now, facing a future of climate disruption resulting from human actions – global climate change, sea level rise, ocean acidification – the importance of this work has only increased. EDC’s mission to protect our local environment requires that we stand up against destructive fossil fuel projects while advocating for safe, clean, renewable sources of energy such as 2014’s Cuyama Solar project.

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Fracking Off Our Coast

Fracking and acidizing threaten our marine wildlife, recreation, clean air, and water quality and yet they were taking place without proper review from oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, home to a National Park, a Marine Sanctuary, and a network of Marine Protected Areas. EDC secured an injunction against such practices in federal court and is now defending the ruling on appeal.

Oil Platform Decommissioning

In total, Southern California has 27 offshore platforms, four of which are in state waters (within three nautical miles of the coast). The Santa Barbara Channel hosts 20 of these structures. More than 50 years after the first offshore platforms were installed along our coast, several are in the process of being decommissioned. Decommissioning includes plugging oil and gas wells, removing the associated platform structure, and restoring the impacted environment. It is estimated that all platforms will be decommissioned by 2055.

Offshore Wind

Since 2016, EDC has worked to help lead the push for California to transition to clean, renewable offshore energy. As the state plans for this transition, EDC will continue to engage with state and federal agencies and other nonprofit partners to ensure the projects are sited and designed to minimize impacts to the coastal and marine environment.

Chevron’s Toxic Debris Mounds

After removal of four of its oil platforms offshore Summerland, California, Chevron left large mounds of toxic debris sitting on our ocean floor, threatening ocean pollution, and impacting public recreation, fishing, and navigation. EDC and our clients are working to ensure these toxic mounds are fully removed and the marine environment is restored to its natural state.

Cat Canyon Onshore Oil Projects

More than a century of conventional oil drilling has depleted much of the easy to access oil across California’s south central coast. in 2017, Santa Barbara County faced a massive increase in oil production using much dirtier and more dangerous extraction methods known as cyclic steam injection and steam flooding. If approved, these three projects proposed by ERG, Aera Energy, and PetroRock would have brought over 700 new oil wells in the Cat Canyon Oil Field located about 10 miles southeast of Santa Maria. Fortunately, after many years of work, these projects were defeated.

Trump’s Plan for New Offshore Oil & Gas Drilling

On January 4, 2018, the Trump Administration released a draft of its five year plan for offshore oil and gas sales, proposing to open up more than 90% of our nations waters, including the California coast and the Santa Barbara Channel. This was the first time the federal government proposed to open our coast to new lease sales since 1984, when Ronald Reagan was president. The administration’s decision put the coastal resources of California at risk of future oil spills and the damaging impacts of climate change.

Plains All American Pipeline

Years after Plains All American’s Pipeline 901 ruptured and spilled more than 450,000 gallons of oil into the ocean, the company is looking to replace the pipeline. We must ensure an adequate environmental review for this project to avoid the same mistakes from the past.

Cat Canyon Aquifer Exemption – Protecting Drinking Water & Stopping Onshore Oil

Oil companies requested an exemption from the Safe Water Drinking Act to inject their toxic wastewater into the Cat Canyon aquifers. If granted, this exemption would threaten the drinking water of 150,000 community members in northern Santa Barbara County and would expand dangerous oil production at a time when we must transition to clean, renewable energy.

ExxonMobil Trucking

ExxonMobil is looking to jumpstart oil production from three offshore oil platforms shuttered since the devastating 2015 Plains All American Pipeline oil spill at Refugio State Beach. The oil company wants to start drilling again and to facilitate that, they are seeking permission for up to 70 roundtrip truck transits, transporting more than 460,000 gallons of oil every day for up to seven years.

Refugio Oil Spill

On Tuesday, May 19th, 2015, the Plains All American Pipeline spilled more than 450,000 gallons of heavy crude from an underground pipeline on the Gaviota Coast. Oil washed out into the sensitive environment of the Santa Barbara Channel, threatening endangered whales, closing Refugio and El Capitan State Beaches, and harming unknown numbers of birds and marine mammals.

Venoco Ellwood Oil Drilling

Over the course of decades, EDC has successfully worked to end Venoco’s transporation of oil by marine barge and has fought multiple proposals by Venoco to expand oil drilling from Platform Holly which would have extended the life of its operations, including the Ellwood Onshore Facility located near Haskell’s Beach. Soon, Platform Holly will be decommissioned and the Ellwood Onshore Facility will likely be closed and begin to transition to an area for public recreation as it is zoned to be.

Climate & Energy

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