A dense agenda awaits the Santa Barbara County supervisors Tuesday as the board is slated to consider three appeals against an offshore oil drilling project and a final report on funding for the North County Jail.

The precedent-setting proposal off the coast of Vandenberg Air Force Base was last heard in a planning commission meeting in April, where it was approved in spite of concerns about a private, undisclosed agreement between the oil company and local environmental groups.

Since then, two other oil and exploration companies and an individual have also found cause for worry about the proposal from Plains Exploration and Production Co., also known as PXP.

Sunset Exploration Company, Vaquero Energy Inc. and Santa Barbara resident Bruce W. Bell have filed appeals to the Planning Commission’s approval of the PXP project to the Board of Supervisors.

However, late Friday the county received a letter from PXP requesting a continuance of the appeal hearing to Oct. 7. With the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting already published and distribruted, the board may decide to postpone the hearing but could also press ahead with it despite the request.

In its letter, PXP said a delay would give the county time to explore oil “royalty sharing” with the state.

PXP’s Tranquillon Ridge project is precedent-setting because it involves taking oil from beneath state waters, which extend 3 miles out from the shore, through the use of slant-drilling from a platform in federal waters. All the oil platforms off Santa Barbara County are beyond the 3-mile limit in federal waters, and drilling from them has always been into oil fields in federal waters.

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The PXP project underwent last-minute changes in April following the agreement with environmental groups including an agreement for early closure of Tranquillon Ridge, Point Pedernales, Platform Irene and its Lompoc onshore oil and gas plant after only 14 years, or by Dec. 31, 2022, instead of the proposed 30-year lease.

“I think our case for appeal has benefited by the recent national and local change in energy policy,” said Sunset President Robert Nunn, referring specifically to a letter the Board of Supervisors sent last month to the governor, urging him to help open up offshore drilling.

If PXP abandoned Tranquillon Ridge in 14 years, there would still be a significant amount of oil remaining, which Nunn said makes PXP’s plan inconsistent with the county’s expressed energy policy.

Sunset has also proposed its own competing project to the county for slant-drilling from land on Vandenberg Air Force Base into the same ridge.

The Sunset and Vaquero appeals both express concerns about the closing of PXP’s processing facility in 2022 when it has a multi-company use permit and other companies would lose the option of using the Lompoc Oil and Gas Plant (LOGP).

Although the language in the county’s termination date has since been edited to exclude closing down the LOGP, the appellants’ worries stem from the fact that the closure plan was part of the private settlement and technically out of the supervisors’ jurisdiction.

Bell’s appeal is based on the claim that the Planning Commission failed to consider exactly how damaging another oil spill on the Central Coast would be for residents, wildlife and the environment.

County staff has questioned Bell’s standing to appeal and have recommended that Bell’s claim be denied.

In a separate matter, this will be the final opportunity for the supervisors to consider a partnership with two other counties on a regional re-entry facility for state prison inmates.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown intends to present the board with a contract for the transportation of parolees from the proposed Paso Robles facility to Santa Barbara County immediately upon their release.

Also, more information should be known by Tuesday on whether the city of Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo and San Benito counties have given approval for the proposed combined facility that would house inmates who are within a year of their release dates.

Nearly $56.3 million in state grant funds for the proposed Santa Barbara County northern jail facility hinges on Paso Robles and both counties approving the joint facility by Sept. 13.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Betteravia Government Center at 511 E. Lakeside Parkway in Santa Maria.

The public can address the board in person or by using the remote audio and video equipment at the County Administration Building at 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara.

For more information, go to www.countyofsb.org.

Sam Womack can be reached at 739-2218 or swomack@santamariatimes.com.

September 7, 2008