Efforts move forward to cap old well in Channel Islands National Park - VC Star

Efforts move forward to cap old well in Channel Islands National Park

Drilling site on the Channel Islands deemed a safety hazard; old oil well to be capped
Cheri Carlson

- Channel Islands National Park received $1.43 million to plug an abandoned well and restore the site.
- A portable drilling rig was brought to Santa Cruz Island in 1965 but oil was never found.
- Little oil was found on the islands overall, and much of the work stopped after a 1969 oil spill from an offshore well near Santa Barbara.

Decades-old oil drilling equipment sits broken and rusted above a canyon on the remote Santa Cruz Island off the Ventura coast.

For years, federal officials have considered the 1960s-era oil well a public safety hazard, one that's now part of the Channel Islands National Park. But efforts to properly seal it and restore the site stalled.

Funding wasn’t available for what is expected to be a complex and expensive project, park officials said. Work on the largely undeveloped island 20 miles from the mainland would require boat and air support.

Nearly 60 years ago, a portable drilling rig was brought to the spot near Scorpion Ranch when the area was privately owned. Decades later, the land became part of the now five-island park and the deserted well, one of what may be hundreds that need to be plugged in national parks across the country.

After Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the National Park Service received $9.8 million last year to seal abandoned oil and gas wells. Without remediation, the wells pose health and safety hazards, can cause soil and water contamination and release harmful air emissions.

Many may have been drilled years ago and without requirements that adequate resources be available to cap them at the end of their use, said U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara.

“That’s why we have this challenge throughout the country,” he said.

Drilling yields no oil

Last week, the congressman hiked up to the spot on Santa Cruz Island where remnants of the once tall rig, pipes and an old metal building still sit.

As part of the federal funding, Channel Islands National Park received $1.43 million to plug the well and restore the site, a couple miles and a steep climb from the pier at Scorpion Anchorage.

Records show the rig was brought to the spot around 1965. Crews drilled roughly 5,000 feet to look for oil, but apparently never found any.

“It didn’t produce oil, but it did produce water,” said Laura Kirn, chief of cultural resources at the Channel Islands park. “The water was used until the pump failed.”

The structure started to fall a few years ago after the ground was drenched by storms, Kirn said. At that point, the park prepared to remove it but logistics proved too challenging and expensive, she said.

The rugged area sits about a half-mile walk from Smugglers Road, a narrow, dirt path that these days is most often used by hikers, a few park vehicles and the small endemic island fox.

Funding far short of need

Tests inside the well head showed no harmful emissions. But the site still represents a hazard, including potential groundwater contamination, officials said.

The number of orphaned or deserted wells and mining sites nationwide is unclear. In California, state officials have identified thousands considered orphaned or likely orphaned – deserted wells or those without a financially viable and compliant operator. The list includes more than 400 in Ventura County.

Recent federal funding represents just a small portion of the need, said U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a congressman from Tucson and the top Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources.

In cases when liability or ownership is known, a company may have to pay for the work. But for many others, that information cannot be traced, said Grijalva, who joined Carbajal on the trip Santa Cruz last week.

Risks run the gamut from public health concerns in a densely populated area to hazardous conditions for imperiled species found on the Channel Islands, said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

"It is becoming clear to a growing number of people in the public and decision makers that this is a huge climate and public health and environmental risk," Kretzmann said.

Records show other wells

Oil exploration on the Channel Islands may have started as early as the late 1920s. Records show drilling and capping of wells on nearby Santa Rosa Island, also part of the park.

Little oil was found on the islands, and much of the work stopped after a 1969 oil spill from an offshore well near Santa Barbara. A wave of environmental laws followed that spill.

In the 1960s, a company known as Santa Cruz Exploration attempted to find oil above Scorpion Canyon on Santa Cruz, according to a historic resource study by the park service. Just who operated the well appears unclear. Reports name different companies or a combination of them, the study says.

The National Park Service said that at this point, the agency is responsible to properly seal and decommission the site. It is one of nearly two dozen orphaned wells approved last year to receive the federal funding.

Environmental reviews have been completed and a contract has gone out for bids, officials said. Work could start within the next several months and will include removing the old equipment.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.