AB 691 – Proactively Planning for Sea Level Rise Impacts The bill requires consideration and use of relevant information from specified reports on sea level rise in preparing the assessment and permits and submission of that assessment to the Commission.
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Generally requires state and local government agencies, including the Commission, to inform decision-makers and the public about the potentially significant environmental effects of a proposed project, ways to minimize those environmental effects, and to indicate alternatives to the project.
Environmental Justice The Commission commits to promoting equity and advancing environmental justice through more inclusive decision-making that considers the disproportionate burdens on disadvantaged communities and Native Nations. It also commits to applying this Environmental Justice Policy to all its operations, programs, and policies.
Federal Legislative Jurisdiction A searchable database of cession and retrocession actions by the Commission over various federal lands in California as well as a searchable list of cession and retrocession statutes enacted by the Legislature between 1850-2018.
GIS / Maps Access interactive maps and explore available data.
Hollister Ranch Public Access Program Hollister Ranch is a 14,500-acre gated subdivision in Santa Barbara County that includes 8.5 miles of publicly owned shoreline, though no public access.
Kapiloff Land Bank Fund The Act was created to facilitate settlements of title to real property with cash payments where substitute parcels are not readily available for acquisition or are not of equal value and to facilitate mitigation through the pooling of such payments.
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee A Natural Resource Damage Assessment is the process used to identify and quantify the adverse impacts to natural resources from an oil spill or hazardous substance release, and to obtain compensation from the responsible party to remediate the negative impacts to natural resources and lost recreational uses resulting from the incident.
Oil & Gas While the Commission put a moratorium on new oil and gas leases after the 1969 spill in Santa Barbara, the leases issued before 1969 continue to generate significant revenue to the state, as they have for almost 80 years.
Methane Emissions Reduction Program The federal Department of Energy awarded the Commission a nearly $22 million grant in December 2023 to mitigate methane emissions from certain oil and gas wells as part of the Methane Emissions Reduction Program.
Rincon Onshore and Offshore Facilities The relinquishment means the last operational offshore oil drilling and production facility in the Santa Barbara Channel is over, and RILP’s interests will be added to California’s Coastal Sanctuary. The Commission is now, as it has been, working to ensure public and environmental safety and to protect the state’s public lands and resources.
South Ellwood Project Platform Holly/Piers 421/Venoco Bankruptcy. The plug and abandonment work on Platform Holly began in October 2019. This follows the successful plug and abandonment of the Piers 421 wells in Goleta.
Shipwrecks The Commission administers the California Shipwreck and Historic Maritime Resources Program.
Tijuana River Valley Transboundary Pollution Crisis Nearly three-quarters of the Tijuana River Watershed is in Mexico, but it drains into the Pacific Ocean through the 8 square-mile Tijuana River Valley north of the border in Imperial Beach. The Tijuana River Valley is a natural floodplain with tidally flushed wetland and riparian areas that support threatened and endangered species and includes several federally listed historical and archaeological sites.
Water Boundaries One of the important responsibilities of the Commission is to determine the extent and location of California’s sovereign tide and submerged lands.
