oil production

The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission voted to approve a plan last week that would eventually phase out onshore oil and gas production. The first phase of the plan would only prohibit drilling for new wells.

Oil production near the Santa Barbara coast is ramping back up. A Texas-based oil company announced it started selling oil through the same pipeline system tied to the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.

A judge decided Tuesday morning to maintain restrictions on restarting a controversial oil pipeline along California’s Central Coast. The decision comes after environmental groups say the operator ignored a court order.

California officials are pushing back after the Trump Administration ordered the restart of a controversial oil pipeline system off the Santa Barbara coast. State regulators say they’re preparing for possible legal action over the company restarting the pipeline, without required state approvals, and over a federal order allowing the company to bypass California law.

After hours of heated debate, the future of offshore oil production off the Santa Barbara coast continues to be uncertain. County Supervisors rejected a proposal that would allow an oil company to operate an offshore oil field connected to the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.

UC Santa Barbara researchers released a new study looking at the most equitable ways California can reach carbon neutrality by 2045.