Three environmental groups—Los Padres ForestWatch, Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas, and Keep Sespe Wild Committee—have appealed the extension of an oil drilling permit in the Sespe Oil Field, adjacent to the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County. It is the first extension of an oil drilling permit in the Sespe Oil Field in more than 25 years.
The permit extension—approved by the Ventura County Planning Director in October—would allow an oil company called Carbon California to continue operating two oil and gas wells, one wastewater injection well, and associated gathering lines for an additional twenty years. The permit also allows the oil company to convert a separate parcel at the confluence of Sespe Creek and Little Sespe Creek to a temporary storage yard for equipment and tanks, and to reclaim and restore an unused pad.
The Sespe Oil Field contains more than 200 oil wells on a mix of private and public land in the Los Padres National Forest. The oil field is adjacent to the Sespe Wilderness and the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, and is upstream from homes and farms in the town of Fillmore.
The permit was first approved in 1968—two years before the California Environmental Quality Act was signed into law—and has never undergone a full environmental review. When the County amended the permit in 1993, it prepared a one-page environmental study called a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND). Then, last month, the County prepared a short “addendum” to the 1993 MND instead of starting from scratch and preparing a new, thorough one.
In their appeal, the groups argue that the County should have prepared a new MND or even a full Environmental Impact Statement. The groups provided evidence of significant environmental impacts to endangered species including the California condor and southern steelhead, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and pollution affecting communities downstream.
The groups also pointed out that the permit should prioritize the reclamation and restoration of an abandoned area where drilling historically took place. The permit extension failed to clearly spell out the company’s obligations to fully restore the site to natural conditions, meaning there’s a good chance the company won’t complete the task properly.
A thorough evaluation of the environmental impacts is important because it forms the basis of the new permit, and may prompt additional permit conditions to minimize or avoid environmental impacts. Several more oil permits in the Sespe Oil Field will come up for renewal over the next few years. The County has an opportunity now to consider whether it wants to further facilitate the continuation of the fossil fuel industry, or to proactively chart a path towards a just transition to a clean energy future. By filing the appeal, the groups are urging the County to pursue the latter.
The Ventura County Planning Commission will consider the groups’ appeal at a hearing in early 2022.
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