Pipeline Safety Rule Doesn’t Make Sense

Many Ventura County oil employees work on the Point Arguello Pipeline, along the coast of Santa Barbara County, either directly or indirectly through companies like mine. Their jobs, along with nearly $20 million in sales tax revenue, are at risk.

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will determine on Tuesday whether it will require Chevron Corp. and other Point Arguello Pipeline producers to implement an expensive safety procedure called full gas re-injection.

Chevron, the Santa Barbara County Energy Division and the U.S. Department of Mineral Management Services together have determined that full gas re-injection in this instance is not feasible under the criteria set by the California Environmental Quality Act.

Chevron has operated the Point Arguello Pipeline, which carries crude oil and gas onshore from Platforms Hermosa, Harvest and Hidalgo, since 1991. Chevron has a perfect operating record there as measured by the strict safety guidelines established when the initial permits were given.

Besides reducing the amount of oil and gas that can be produced from Point Arguello--and reducing jobs and tax revenues--the study found that safety and environmental risks would actually increase slightly under full gas re-injection. This is one potential safety regulation that simply doesn’t make sense.

ED LYON

Ventura

Ed Lyon owns Ventura-based Gaviota Maintenance Services Inc.