The PRC 421 facilities were located along Haskell’s/Ellwood beaches, straddling the mean high tide line, partially in the City of Goleta and partially in the State jurisdictions. These facilities included oil production well, a water injection well, protective caisson walls, and piers connecting the wells/caissons to a raised beach access road below the Sandpiper Golf Course. In collaboration with the City of Goleta, the California State Lands Commission recently removed these facilities with the exception of the raised beach access road and related rock revetment and ancillary facilities under the road. This landmark decommissioning project marks the end of oil production in the Ellwood Oil Field that started in the late 1920s and continued into the 1990s. At one time, the shoreline in this area was defined by a welter of oil storage and processing facilities immediately onshore, lining the coast like dominos. Now the final two piers and caissons are gone.

Above: 2022 Pre-Removal

Above: 2023 Post-Removal

Before the City’s incorporation, the land on which the EOF is situated was rezoned as Recreation and Planned Residential by Santa Barbara County on September 16, 1990. As a result of the rezoning, the EOF became a legal non-conforming use under California law. Other oil and gas production facilities owned by Venoco, including Platform Holly and Pier 421, are situated offshore in State-regulated waters and are not generally subject to the zoning regulations of either Santa Barbara County or the City.

Since the City was incorporated in 2002, the EOF has continued to operate as a legal nonconforming use. Under California law, a municipality may require termination of a legal nonconforming use by one of two “constitutionally equivalent alternatives: it can eliminate the use immediately by payment of just compensation, or it can require removal of the use without compensation following a reasonable amortization period.” California courts have determined whether the amount of time given to a property owner to terminate a non-conforming use was a reasonable amortization period for recoupment of its investment.

In 2016, the City retained a consultant to determine an appropriate amortization period for the EOF based on historical and forecasted capital investment in the Ellwood Facilities. The study results conclude that Venoco’s original capital investment in the Ellwood Facilities was fully amortized by 2009, including estimated costs for abandonment. Therefore, capital investments and income after 2009 have no impact on the amortization period. Venoco has since filed for bankruptcy and the EOF is under the State’s operation with a possible future sale pending. The City will continue to work with the State on the ultimate disposition and decommissioning of the EOF.

     Ellwood Onshore Facility Amortization Study (March 2016) (commissioned by the City of Goleta)

     Ellwood Onshore Facility Amortization Study (September 2016) (commissioned by the City of Goleta)

     Ellwood Onshore Facility Amortization Study 2016 (commissioned by Venoco) 

     City Council Venoco Update Presentation (September 2016)

Extensive oil and gas operations occurred along the City’s Ellwood coastline during the early and mid-20th century. When these operations ceased, the infrastructure created to support the operations was not properly abandoned. As a result, the Ellwood coastline is littered with remnant oil and gas operation hazards. Since 2002, the California State Land Commission (CSLC) has worked to identify and remove these remnant hazards along both the Ellwood coastline and other locations in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties

California State Lands Commission Beach Hazards Removal Project

On May 19, 2015, an underground pipeline (Line 901) ruptured on the Gaviota Coast, west of Refugio Beach State Park, causing the release of crude oil onto area beaches and into the Pacific Ocean. Emergency response operations were immediately initiated under the direction of a Unified Command led by the United States Coast Guard and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the responsible party, Plains All American Pipeline.

Assessing the ecological injuries and human use losses from the spill is the responsibility of state and federal trustee agencies. The process is known as the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). City staff are working with the trustee agencies in the NRDA process. A copy of the Refugio Beach Oil Spill NRDA Update for November 2015 can be downloaded here. Additional information can be found on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife page here.