Coastal Hazards & Legacy Wells

What’s going on?

• 2020 Coastal Hazards & Legacy Oil & Gas Well Removal & Remediation Program Report
  A report to the Legislature on the activities and accomplishments of the program for the prior year.
• Summary of shoreline hazards removal from Haskell’s Beach
  In late November, the Commission and its consultant removed hazards on behalf of the City of Goleta, including 15 pipeline segments, that were exposed because of eroding bluffs. More information, including a site map, environmental compliance checklist, and pre-project biological survey, is now available.

Legacy Wells

In the late 1800s, the area offshore of Summerland Beach contained hundreds of oil wells and related drilling infrastructure. Today, the coastline area retains the vestiges of that extensive offshore oil production. These are the unfortunate legacy of the rapid and intensive offshore oil development along the coastline that began just before the turn of the twentieth century, primarily at Summerland Beach in Santa Barbara County.

Most legacy oil and gas wells were abandoned in the early 1900s when oversight was nonexistent. Virtually no records exist regarding the drilling and abandonment of these wells. Removal, if any, varied from well to well and involved rudimentary procedures that fell well short of current health, safety, and environmental protection requirements. Based on the Commission’s research, there are approximately 200 high priority legacy oil and gas wells (identified as Category 1 wells), that could, depending on their condition, leak oil into the marine environment, negatively impacting swimmers, surfers, recreational users, and marine and coastal wildlife and fish, as well as causing environmental degradation and public health and safety hazards. Many other wells are categorized as medium (Category 2) to low (Category 3) priority wells because more information is available about the integrity and abandonment of these wells or because a responsible party is or may be available to address any leak that may occur.

Coastal Hazards

California’s first offshore oil wells, Summerland Field, circa 1915

The Commission, when funding is available, removes coastal hazards along the California coast. Coastal hazards include wood or steel piles or piling, sheet metal pilings, H piles and H beams, well casings, well caissons, railroad irons, cables, angle bars, pipes, pipelines, rip rap, and wood beams and structures. In the mid-1980s, the Commission inventoried coastal hazards and identified over 400 hazards on lands within its jurisdiction, many of which are on state and local beaches and in coastal areas that the public uses. Their presence is inherently at odds with safe beach access for recreation, fishing, surfing, swimming, kiteboarding, and other popular public activities. Removing coastal hazards is essential to safe public access.