On Oct. 7, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1, with 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray dissenting, to deny appeals against an offshore oil-drilling project that would give Plains Exploration & Production Co. (PXP) sole drilling access to the county’s Tranquillon Ridge.
The board voted in favor of a previous decision made by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission to approve the project. The board also voted to certify the project’s Environmental Impact Report, and approved other environmental findings in favor of the project.
Earlier this year, the Planning Commission decided to allow PXP to tap into the Tranquillon Ridge Oil and Gas Field from the PXP-owned Platform Irene, thus giving the company access to an estimated 200 million barrels of oil.
Following that decision, competing oil company Sunset Exploration, Inc. accused the Planning Commission of violating California’s open-meetings law, alleging that the commission allowed its decision to be inappropriately influenced by an agreement reached privately between PXP and three local environmental groups.
The commission later denied that there had been any violation of the law while making its decision. The commission also rejected a request from Sunset Exploration, Inc., along with ExxonMobil Corporation and Vaquero Energy, Inc., to overturn the Tranquillon Ridge decision.
Deemed a “historic milestone” for oil drilling, the agreement between PXP and the Environmental Defense Center, Get Oil Out!, and the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara established Dec. 31, 2022, as the end date for oil and gas extraction in the Tranquillon Ridge and Point Pedernales Fields in Lompoc. PXP agreed to phase out other operations in the county—including sites off of Point Arguello and Point Conception near Vandenberg Air Force Base—by 2017.
The agreement also requires that PXP reduce or offset all greenhouse gas emissions and protect threatened county lands. The company is expected to donate $1.5 million toward purchasing hybrid buses in Santa Maria, Lompoc, and on the south coast.
The value of the Tranquillon Ridge drilling site could generate more than $300 million in property tax revenues for the county during the next 14 years. Of those funds, the county government would receive about $74 million into the general fund, according to a statement from Santa Barbara County Public Information Officer William Boyer and county staff reports.
This article appears in Oct 16-23, 2008.