AnonymousSource: Santa Barbara County Grand Jury
Seepage from active oil wells is common in Santa Barbara County. Seepage may also occur from the 1,374 “idle” wells that are no longer in production in the County. Such idle wells pose special health and environmental hazards because their seepage can go undetected without monitoring by trained professionals. Some idle wells have been permanently capped, so they pose a smaller threat to health and the environment. Other idle wells have not yet been capped, posing a greater risk to health and the environment. A few idle wells have been abandoned and left unplugged by their owners and are now defined as “orphaned.”Should there be seepage, causing toxic emissions or pollution from an idle well, the clean-up, remediation, and lost income costs could fall on Santa Barbara County.
The 2021 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury investigated the regulatory roles of County agencies in managing and mitigating oil seepage as they pertain to onshore idle wells. The Jury’s findings are: (1) the health and environmental risks of idle wells do not appear to be adequately addressed; (2) the County may have some fiscal liabilities resulting from inadequate monitoring of idle wells; (3) active County staff at present appear at times to be too few to adequately monitor idle wells in the County; and (4) the Santa Barbara County Code provisions regarding removal of drilling equipment and derricks from idle wells are not fully enforced.
The complete report with agency responses are posted on the Grand Jury’s website: www.sbcgj.org .
