Oil & Energy in Santa Barbara County
The county that birthed Earth Day still argues about oil every single month.
Santa Barbara County is where the modern environmental movement started — the 1969 oil spill helped launch Earth Day — and it has been arguing about fossil fuels ever since. Offshore platforms, onshore processing facilities, and the long fight over restarting ExxonMobil's Santa Ynez Unit and trucking or piping its crude keep the issue permanently on the agenda.
The tension is structural: oil and gas have historically been a tax-base and jobs story for parts of the county, while spills, air quality, and climate risk drive the opposition. Layer on the renewable transition — solar siting, battery storage, and the aerospace-adjacent energy economy near Vandenberg — and energy becomes one of the most contested permitting questions the Board of Supervisors handles.
This hub tracks who decides, the places on the front line, and the elections and permit fights that set the county's energy direction.
What's at Stake
- Offshore drilling & platforms
- ExxonMobil restart & trucking
- Oil spill & pipeline risk
- Air quality
- Solar, storage & the transition
Who Decides
Where It's Hottest
Frequently Asked
Is there still offshore oil drilling near Santa Barbara?
Several offshore platforms exist in the Santa Barbara Channel, and proposals to restart idled production and processing periodically come before county and state regulators.
Who decides oil and energy projects in the county?
The county Board of Supervisors handles land-use permits for onshore facilities, while state and federal agencies (and the Coastal Commission) weigh in on offshore and coastal infrastructure.