The same day Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took to the Reagan Ranch Center stage to extol the virtues of damming and drilling, Venoco — the Colorado-based oil company that originated in Carpinteria more than 20 years ago — announced it was officially pulling the plug on itself. Venoco issued a press release Monday declaring bankruptcy while “quitclaiming” the Ellwood oil lease off of which it had proposed to expand drilling from Platform Holly. That means Venoco is giving its offshore oil lease back to the State of California, which controls all coastal property for three miles out.
This move effectively shuts the door to any further drilling from Platform Holly, installed in 1966, and initiates the long and complicated process of decommissioning the oil platform. Venoco’s lease will now become covered by the state’s offshore sanctuary, which bans offshore oil production. While environmentalists were quick to celebrate Venoco’s withdrawal from Santa Barbara’s coastal waters — “Our clients are both relieved and thrilled,” stated attorney Linda Krop, who has been fighting Venoco and its predecessors, Mobil and ARCO, since the 1980s — Venoco was done in, however indirectly, by Donald Trump and his vows to expand coastal oil production.
Venoco was most immediately laid low by Plains All American Pipeline company, whose spill two years ago effectively stopped any production at Platform Holly. Last year, Venoco sued Plains for letting its pipeline get so corroded it sprung a serious leak along the Gaviota Coast, during which thousands of gallons of crude made their way into the ocean. In that litigation, Venoco cited losses in excess of $20 million. If and when that stretch of pipeline ever operates again is a matter of intense speculation, calibrated in terms of years, not months.