Update to County's Oil Transportation Policies
Project Status: Underway
On October 24, 2004, the Board of Supervisors
adopted amendments to the County’s
Local Coastal Program ( LCP) for the
purpose of updating its oil transportation
policies and regulations. Corresponding
amendments were adopted to the Land Use
Element of the County’s Comprehensive
Plan and the Inland Zoning Ordinance.
These updates prescribe the environmentally
preferred mode of transporting crude
oil that is produced offshore and landed
in Santa Barbara County; namely overland
pipeline, unless specific exceptions
are met. Following adoption, the County
submitted the LCP amendments to the California
Coastal Commission where the amendments
are reviewed for consistency with the
California Coastal Act.
The Commission was scheduled to hear
this item at its meeting of February
16, 2005. However, County and Coastal
Commission staff asked the Commission
to pull this item from the agenda to allow time to
comprehensively address issues submitted to the Commission
by the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA)
shortly before the hearing. The Commission complied,
allowing a continuation for up to one year – the
maximum time allowed by procedural regulations.
As of February 2006, staff continues
to work with WSPA representatives to
resolve outstanding issues. The amendments,
possibly with revisions, may be resubmitted
at a future date. If revisions are required, the
amendments would be returned to the Board for consideration
in noticed public hearing.
Background:
The updates are intended to bring the
policies and ordinances into accord with
present-day circumstances and into consistency
with current California law. The proposed
amendments would revise sections of the
Coastal Plan and the Coastal Zoning Ordinance.
The County’s policies and regulations
on oil transportation were enacted in
1984/1985 to protect the environment
by promoting overland pipelines as the
preferred environmental mode of transporting
crude oil produced offshore and landed
in the County for transport to refineries.
At the time, some offshore oil producers
transported their oil to refineries via
overland pipeline, while others preferred
the flexibility of marine tankers. Because
offshore oil production was then projected
to reach peak levels that far exceeded
the then-existing pipeline capacity,
the policies and ordinances were written
to allow for some marine tankering, if
necessary, until additional pipelines
could be built to accommodate projected
production.
Several notable changes in the transportation
infrastructure have occurred since enactment
of these policies, which warrants revisiting
the policies. Two major common carrier
pipelines, the All
American and Pacific pipelines, have
been constructed with capacity to transport
large volumes of heavy crude oil to refineries
in Los Angeles - one of two major destinations
of offshore oil production. The All American
Pipeline now also connects, via the Sisquoc
Pipeline, into ConocoPhillips’ north-bound
pipelines to refineries in the San Francisco
Bay Area. Meanwhile, offshore production
never approached the projected volume
of 500-800 MBD (thousands of barrels
per day), and during the past decade,
offshore production volume has fallen
to a current level of approximately 60
MBD. In short, the now-existing pipeline
capacity is adequate to carry current
and anticipated offshore production.
Since the existing policies were developed,
several regional marine terminals have
been decommissioned, including the Gaviota and Cojo marine
terminals in Santa Barbara County and
the Avila and Estero Bay terminals in
San Luis Obispo County to the north.
These changes demonstrate that shipment
of oil produced offshore Santa Barbara
County via overland pipeline to California
refiners is now feasible and does not
pose an undue burden on commerce, considering
risks to the environment associated with
marine shipping of oil.
Another important factor that provides
impetus for updating the County’s
oil transportation policies is that recently-enacted
California law (AB 16) requires that
any new or expanded offshore oil production
be transported by pipeline.
The proposed amendments would strengthen
the County’s requirements for pipeline
transport of offshore-produced oil, repeal
outdated provisions for siting and construction
of new or expanded marine terminals,
and bring the policies and regulations
into conformity with current state law.
For a more detailed discussion of the
updates and the proposed textual amendments,
please follow the link to the Board
Letter prepared for the September
7 hearing and the Staff
Report prepared for the Planning
Commission hearing on September 22. Please
click on Policy
Projects for additional information,
including the final language of the policies
and ordinances adopted by the Board of
Supervisors on October 26, 2004, and
letters from Western States Petroleum
Association to the Board of Supervisors
and the Coastal Commission, expressing
concern about the proposed policy and
ordinance updates.
Please contact John
Day for more information.
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