Supes approve offshore drilling project

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The Tranquillon Ridge offshore oil drilling project, which could provide as much as $300 million to the county over the next 14 years, was approved Tuesday by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.
With a 4-1 vote, the board denied appeals filed by oil companies, including Exxon Mobile, and upheld a County Planning Commission vote earlier this year to approve the project.


Fourth District Supervisor Joni Gray was the lone dissenting vote. Gray said she would not support the project because the monetary arrangement was not lucrative enough for the county.
Plains Exploration and Production Co., an oil company that already drills offshore from Platform Irene, would tap the oil-rich Tranquillon Ridge from the existing platform.
Because there little new infrastructure would be needed to tap the oil, and Plains Exploration has agreed to shut down all of its offshore operations by 2022 — earlier than it would have otherwise, many environmental groups, including Get Oil Out and the Environmental Defense Center have endorsed the project.
The environmental support was especially clear in the appeals process, where the only appeals filed came from oil companies, who apparently felt they were more suited to pump the oil from the Tranquillon Ridge.
Third District Supervisor Brooks Firestone said the discussion was the “best I’ve ever attended.”
“I think this is a moment of history,” he said. “I think this board should respond to this moment and support the project.”
Fifth District Supervisor Joe Centeno said he felt the environmental groups and PXP should have included the county in its discussions.
“I have a lot of misgivings about the process,” he said. “What prevents others from bypassing the supervisors and cutting their own deal.”
Wolf said she supports the PXP agreement primarily because the company said it would shut its doors after 14 years. However, during that 14-year period, some estimate 100 million to 150 million barrels of oil could be found.
“The main issue for me is the ending date,” she said. “Honestly, that was the biggest piece for me.”