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What a historic moment. Against the backdrop of the magnificent Pacific Ocean, the California State Lands Commission and state and local leaders showcased the successful removal of the last two oil production shorezone piers in California located at Haskell’s Beach on June 5, 2023, restoring the coastline and marking an enormous milestone in California’s transition away from fossil fuels. It was a special moment after many years of collaboration between the City of Goleta and the California State Lands Commission. Watch the momentous occasion here: https://youtu.be/75kUtN9fCG4.
“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,” said City of Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte. “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.”
In the early 1900s, a large latticework of oil producing piers and onshore storage and processing facilities spanned the Santa Barbara coastline. The recently decommissioned oil piers and caissons, the last two remaining oil piers, were installed nearly a century ago to develop oil and gas from the Ellwood Oil Field. The deteriorating piers and caissons were a physical coastal obstruction and a potential public safety and environmental hazard.
The Commission embarked on the decommissioning project after Venoco filed for bankruptcy and relinquished its leases to the state. The State Lands Commission owns and manages millions of acres of public land, including tide and submerged lands and the beds of navigable rivers, streams, lakes, bays, estuaries, inlets, and straits. It also owns hundreds of thousands of acres of land, known as school lands, that are scattered across the desert and in northeastern California, and works to prevent oil spills at marine oil terminals and invasive species introductions from vessels arriving at California ports.
Information about the oil pier removal project is available on the Commission’s website.
Pictures from the celebration
