Public Weighs In On Venoco’s Oil Pipeline Project

Public Weighs In On Venoco’s Oil Pipeline Project

By Sonia Fernandez, Noozhawk Staff Writer

The California State Lands Commission holds the first in a series of hearings on the project's environmental documents.

The California State Lands Commission held public hearings on Wednesday on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for Venoco’s lease expansion and pipeline project, as the oil company pushes for intensified drilling off the Ellwood coast.

The first in a series of hearings on the project’s environmental document, Wednesday’s hearings, at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., brought out criticism and support for the project, which would include 40 new wells from existing oil slots on Platform Holly, as well as a pipeline from the oil company’s Ellwood Onshore Facility to the All-American Pipeline tie-in 10 miles northwest of Goleta that would do away with the oil company’s existing barge operation.

 The environmentally preferred alternative, according to the document, would be to bypass the city of Goleta altogether and build a pipe directly from the rig to the All-American tie-in, skipping the processing plant and doing away with the barge operation in one swoop. It’s an alternative with which “Venoco does not necessarily agree,” said Steve Radis, vice president of Marine Research Specialists, the company that put together the DEIR.

Venoco‘s plan to install a pipe from its EOF to the All-American Pipeline tie-in would have eliminated the barge operation, the only one of its kind left in California, but critics say it’s too little, too late.

“This is no favor,” said former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, who attended the evening session. She was the author of a bill that passed in 2003, which requires companies such as Venoco to transport oil by pipe should they expand their lease or add more wells.

“This is not a benefit, or mitigation,” she said.

Meanwhile, residents vented concerns about air quality and increased risks of oil spills and gas leaks identified in the DEIR, given recent leaks and ongoing suspicious smells said to be coming from either the oil rig, the Ellwood Marine Terminal, which stores the crude, or the barge Jovalan.

“I would like to see Venoco be gone as soon as possible,” Goleta Mayor Michael Bennett said.

At least one supporter came forward to push for Venoco’s increased drilling and the pipe that would come along with it.

“You can get rid of the barge and rid of the stinking tanks by November of 2009,” Tom Beckert said. If the project were allowed to go through with little challenge, he said, the pipeline from the EOF to the All-American tie-in could come sooner than later. The lease on the EMT, which is on UCSB property, expires in 2016, after which the oil company would have to do away with its barge and construct a pipe.

“It doesn’t make sense for anyone to resist this project and be complaining about the barge and tanks,” he said.

Public comment on the DEIR will be taken until 4 p.m. Aug. 25. Comments can be sent to Eric Gillies, staff environmental scientist, via e-mail at

gilliee@slc.gov or mailed to him at the Division of Environmental Planning and Management, State Lands Commission, 100 Howe Ave., Suite 100-South, Sacramento, CA 95825.

Noozhawk staff writer Sonia Fernandez can be reached at

sfernandez@noozhawk.com.