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City Receives State Funds for Oil Remediation

On Sept. 27, State Senator Monique Limón and Assemblymember Steve Bennett awarded a $1.05 million check to the City of Carpinteria and the County of Santa Barbara to support oil remediation work.

The City of Carpinteria’s $500,000 portion of the state funding will be used to carry out proper abandonment of an oil pipeline that runs east from the Carpinteria Oil & Gas Plant on Dump Road to La Conchita. As an outcome of Venoco Inc.’s 2017 bankruptcy, Chevron has taken responsibility for decommissioning the Carpinteria Oil & Gas Plant, but the pipeline is outside of the Plant site and, like many other oil and gas facilities throughout the state, the government will be required to complete the abandonment work.

“This funding will ensure that local taxpayers are not burdened with the costs for the abandonment of oil facilities left in limbo by the bankruptcy of a private oil company,” stated Mayor Wade Nomura. “Although indicative of a broader regulatory and policy issue concerning costs and responsibility for decommissioning and abandonment of oil and gas facilities in California, today we can celebrate a success.”

The City of Carpinteria thanks Senator Limón and Assemblymember Bennett for their incredibly important work to ensure the California budget trailer bill included the necessary funding.