Oil drilling project approved

The Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP) project must also receive approval from the California Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission before drilling can begin, but company representatives said they expected to be producing oil from the project in the beginning of 2009.

The Tranquillon Ridge project proposes extended-slant drilling from Platform Irene, which is three miles off the coast of Vandenberg Air Force Base, into state lands to reach an oil reserve.

Before the board Tuesday were appeals against the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission's approval of the project in April, which the supervisors denied with a 4-1 vote.

The Board of Supervisors heard from the appellant, Sunset Exploration Inc., which has a competing project in the works to reach the oil reserve from federal land; from PXP officials and from members of the public for approximately five hours in Santa Barbara.

The main issue for the parties involved and the board was a unique agreement between the Houston-based PXP and the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), representing Get Oil Out! (GOO!) and the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara.

In exchange for the right to develop the Tranquillon Ridge lease west of Lompoc, the company agreed to stop oil drilling offshore by 2022 and shut down its Lompoc oil and gas plant.

PXP also would donate

$1.5 million to help reduce greenhouse emissions in the county, and convey some 3,700 acres adjacent to the 5,125-acre Burton Mesa Chaparral Preserve for public use, including 800 acres set aside for the controversial Purisima Hills subdivision. PXP also would give up 200 acres on the Gaviota coast.

Offshore operations at PXP's Point Arguello project would end in 2017, while Tranquillon Ridge, Point Pedernales and the Lompoc onshore projects would shut down by the end of 2022.

However, the supervisors were advised not to consider any part of the private settlement, except that which was included in the county plan.

The approved county plan included the funds to reduce greenhouse emissions and the end date for Tranquillon Ridge, but deleted the end date of the Lompoc Oil and Gas Processing facility.

Supervisor Joni Gray of the 4th District expressed grave concern over the donated acreage north of Lompoc, saying “it would preserve land that would landlock Lompoc and that's a problem for me.”

“(The project) is not good enough for the county because it's not good enough for the people of Lompoc,” she said before the final vote.

Gray also found fault with the amount of money to come to the county, and stated that $70 million over 14 years is “not enough by far.”

Other supervisors expressed complaints about not being involved in the private settlement between PXP and the EDC, but in summary decided that the project was good enough.

“I've decided to focus on the positives,” said 1st District Supervisor Salud Carbajal.

Sam Womack can be reached at 739-2218 or swomack@lompocrecord.com.

October 8, 2008