A steady stream of speakers on Wednesday passionately urged the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission to approve or reject an oil-drilling project planned for Cat Canyon, but the panel delayed a decision at the end of a hearing that lasted more than five hours.
Instead, commissioners agreed to take up the matter again on March 27, and decided to hold the meeting in Santa Maria.
In spelling out the ground rules for Wednesday’s hearing, Chairman John Parke, who represents the Third District, said he and his four colleagues were charged with assessing the environmental analysis, and expected it would require several meetings.
“It’s probably as likely as the sun coming up tomorrow that this will be appealed to the board, and they’ll have their own decision-making process,” Parke said, tasking commissioners to focus on the project by segments, with the first step being an analysis of the environmental process.
Under the ERG West Cat Canyon Revitalization Plan’s revised project that arose from the environmental review process and has been adapted by the applicant, ERG Resources would build 187 wells, but no new well pads on property about seven miles southeast os Santa Maria. The original application sought more wells and new well pads.
ERG would use “thermally enhanced,” or steam-injection wells, which involve using heated water to create steam to loosen the viscous oil for removal. Due to this process, the proposal calls for adding steam generators at the site, which is southeast of Santa Maria.
The final environmental impact report, available by clicking here, identified Class 1 impacts, or those considered significant and unavoidable, being biological and water resources in case of a spill, along with noise due to well drilling and construction, Supervising Planner Errin Briggs said.
Due to a number of factors, it’s not clear yet if the project would use pipeline or trucks to transport the oil from the ERG site. However, until the already approved Foxen Petroleum Pipeline is installed, tanker trucks, capped at 37 truckloads per day, would cart oil away from the site.
For several hours Wednesday, dozens of speakers at the Santa Maria hearing room or by remote video testimony from Santa Barbara weighed in about the environmental review and oil drilling proposal.
Speakers included Cat Canyon residents in favor and opposed to the project, including one woman who said she feared the loss of her paradise due to the truck traffic, noise and other impacts.
However, some residents said royalties received from the oil drilling projects have supported their families and other businesses.
Other speakers raised questions about the financial stability of ERG Resources, its environmental record and whether it owes taxes to Santa Barbara County.
But ERG’s CEO Alan White refuted the allegations after saying he had hoped the planning process would focus on facts, the environmental review and project merits.
“There has been a significant amount of misinformation disseminated about what we currently do at our facility and what we are proposing,” White said. “Some of this misinformation are well-intentioned comments based on incorrect information, some is just simply not true.”
He said that ERG appealed its tax bill, as allowed, and does not owe taxes. He confirmed ERG was granted bankruptcy relief in 2015, with the plan calling for the firm to divest its assets in five years.
“In the interim, we continue to pay our taxes. We continue to maintain our bonds and insurance, and we paid for the plan that you’re considering today, while investing an additional $60 million post-bankruptcy to maintain the highest operating standards,” he said.
On Wednesday afternoon, representatives from the Environmental Defense Center criticized the final EIR’s assessment by taking turns revealing the “staggering list” of missing analyses for potential impacts related to traffic, groundwater, fire hazard, climate change, biological resources and more.
“In closing, the EIR cannot be certified because it omits critical information and analysis,” said the EDC’s Linda Krop. “We urge the Planning Commission to deny the project because of the many Class 1 impacts and related land-use policy inconsistencies.”
In support of the project, Andy Caldwell, from the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business, reminded the commission that oil drilling has occurred in Cat Canyon for 110 years.
“The bottom line here is these guys spent four years going through the most rigorous process of any other region in the entire United States for oil,” Caldwell said. “They got your staff’s approval. Honor the process.”
Before the meeting began, approximately three dozen opponents gathered in front of the Betteravia Government Center to rally against the project.
Opponents of oil drilling wore stickers saying “Protect our water!” and “Save Cat Canyon” while carrying signs with assorted sayings.
Later, an equal number of audience members stood up silently when the company CEO asked them to show their support for ERG’s project.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.