Members of the Goleta community attended a town hall meeting last week to learn the latest updates on the decommissioning and removal of oil production infrastructure along the coast, including Platform Holly, Piers 421, leaking wells near Summerland Beach, and more.
The work of restoring this coastline “to pre-oil era conditions is a monumental effort,” Goleta City Councilman Kyle Richards said.
“For nearly a century, our region has dealt with oil and gas extraction, including environmental disasters from spills and leaks, onshore and offshore, along with sensitive marine coastline,” Richards added.
“The city of Goleta staff and officials have been working diligently alongside the State Lands Commission and staff for more than a decade to remove old oil infrastructure – some dating back to the 1930s – from our coastline.
“More recently, the Goleta state partnership served to facilitate the successful plugging, abandonment and removal of Piers 421 caissons, wells and piers. The well plugging eliminated oil spills risks along Haskell’s Beach and beyond. Our beaches are safe from the hazards these structures posed to our public and the environment.”
Speakers from the California State Lands Commission (CSLC) focused on Platform Holly.
They explained the project history starting with Veneco’s quitclaim in April 2017, the beginning of work by ExxonMobil in November 2019 to plug and abandon wells, the COVID-19 shutdown, reactivation of the abandonment rig in August 2021, and completion of well plugging and setting of surface plugs in December 2022.
Platform Holly, located in state waters two miles from the shore of Goleta, is one of 27 oil platforms along the California coast from Huntington Beach to Point Arguello.
The platform stopped producing oil in 2015 following the Refugio Oil Spill, which saw more than 140,000 gallons of oil leak from an onshore pipeline. The pipeline was a major connector for oil production facilities, including Platform Holly.
The state took control of the platform to protect public health and safety and prevent damage to marine environment after Venoco filed for bankruptcy.
Now the state, through the CSLC and other agencies, has been working to stabilize the platform and eventually decommission it. To date, all 30 of Holly’s underground oil and gas wells have been blocked, and there is no longer a risk that hazardous hydrogen sulfide gas could be released.
On the actual platform, current work includes a hardening process that eventually will “decouple” the platform from shore-based utilities. Pipelines are being flushed, cleaned and idled, and residual hydrocarbons are being flushed and cleaned from the processing plant.
An environmental impact report is underway, and future town halls will be held as officials decide exactly what to do with the old platform. The EIR should be complete mid-2025.
Chris Goldblatt, founder and CEO of the Fish Reef Project, implored officials to consider the effects of their work on surrounding marine life.
Complete removal of the platform could kill huge quantities of organisms, but leaving pilings might give them a better chance of survival, he said.
Fish Reef Project has a kelp restoration technology that could be implemented here to stimulate fish populations around pilings, he said. Fish Reef Project aims to restore damaged natural reef systems, among other goals.
Linda Kropp, chief counsel with the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center, noted that under lease conditions, prior owners such as Exxon were held responsible for a lot of the decommissioning work under the leadership of CSLC.
“You’ve kept the oil industry accountable, and I know that’s not always easy, so thank you for sparing the taxpayers as much of the cost as possible,” Kropp said.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was in Goleta earlier last week to survey the progress of decommissioning Platform Holly and attend the celebration for the removal of Piers 421.
Kounalakis serves as chair of the three-member State Lands Commission, which oversees the control and leasing of 4 million acres of state-owned land, including tidelands, riverbeds, and submerged lands up to 3 miles offshore.
The commission is also responsible for permitting the use and extraction of oil, gas and other mineral resources.
“Removing the last two oil piers off California not only enhances public access to our beautiful beaches, but also brings us closer to a future free of fossil fuels,” Kounalakis said.
Updates on other infrastructure
The townhall also covered the Ellwood Onshore Oil and Gas Processing Facility status update, the PRC 421 Decommissioning Project, the Ellwood Marine Terminal decommissioning, and Summerland Beach legacy wells.
Commission staff have cleaned and eliminated residual hydrogen sulfide gas from the Ellwood Oil Field (EOF). In May, control of the EOF reverted to the private owner.
“The conductor removal is planned to commence fairly shortly, and should take us through to the end of the year, which is the work to actually remove any remaining pipe that connects the seabed to the platform so then there will be nothing connecting the platform to any of the wells after that…” said Peter Regan, CSLC assistant chief of Marine Environmental Protection.
“We expect final decommissioning and removal somewhere between three to four years in the future.”
The recent PRC 421 decommissioning included the successful removal of the two piers, caissons and wells, Regan said. The beach below Sandpiper Golf Course is back to its natural condition.
He thanked ExxonMobil and Beacon West for their help completing this project with no reportable injuries, spills or delays.
On June 5, CSLC and state and local leaders showcased the successful removal of the last two oil production shore-zone piers in California, restoring the coastline and marking an enormous milestone in California’s transition away from fossil fuels.
“With the removal of the State Lease 421 wells, caissons, and piers, Haskell’s Beach as we stand here today, looks more like 1923 than 2023,” Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte said in a news release.
“The old oil and gas era legacy wells and piers from the 421 mineral lease are gone and no longer pose an oil spill threat. This is a significant accomplishment for the safety of our community and ocean environment.”
The Ellwood Marine Terminal was used for exporting oil from Holly and EOF from the 1920s to 2012, when it was replaced with a pipeline. Exxon is undertaking onshore removal, and CSLC is taking some of the offshore loading line. UC Santa Barbara is the lead partner on this.
Summerland Beach used to be riddled with oil wells in the 1800s, with little oversight and few records remaining, Regan explained.
“Quite a lot of those wells have some fairly sketchy abandonments,” he said.
The legacy wells program was created to address a lot of these leaky wells, and the five “most prolific leakers” have been addressed so far, Regan said. Two more along the old Treadwell Pier will be targeted starting in August.
CSLC Executive Officer Jennifer Luchessi said CSLC receives up to $2 million a year in the state budget for this project. That will sunset in the 2026-27 budget, so CSLC will need to find new sources of funding.
To learn more about these projects, visit www.CSLC.ca.gov. Subscribe to the e-list for updates specific to the Platform Holly project at https://CSLC.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=33d0b38a128181c14ddb1392f&id=fde9b0d883
The video of the June 7 townhall may be viewed at: https://tinyurl.com/ybm5hju5. It is also being rebroadcast on Goleta TV Channel 19 Fridays at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.