Two miles off the coast of Goleta, California, an oil rig was drilling away as it had been for decades.
But in 2015, when a connecting pipeline spilled, pumping on Platform Holly came to a screeching halt.
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Holly has since sat motionless, haunted by a century-long past of extracting fossil fuels in Santa Barbara.
HOLLY
HOSTS
LIFE
Below the surface lies a different story.
Over several stagnant decades, the oil rig's base attracted coral and fish, generating a prolific vertical reef that still thrives today. Is that vibrant undersea life enough reason to keep the petroleum platform in place, when longlasting protocol says otherwise?
LIFE
Some say Holly must go.
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The rig's history of oil spills and environmental neglect have caused enough trauma to the marine ecosystems and their human counterparts. It's time to remove it.
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And technically, it should.
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Through a cradle-to-grave policy, ExxonMobil — the original owner of the rig — is responsible for removing Holly and mitigating its environmental impacts. The platform was never supposed to stay forever.
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But now life clings to Holly.
Keeping the rig in the water would save an entire reef. Yet it would also prolong the presence of the fossil fuel industry in Santa Barbara.
Environmentalists are torn.
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​​California is now faced with a decision: blow the oil rig to bits — along with the reef attached to its base — or leave the longtime culprit of ecological tragedy standing in the name of marine life.
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Credit: Jevin Liu
Credit: Jevin Liu
Forged for fossil fuels.
Built two miles offshore, the oil rig was operated by Mobil and Arco until 1998, when it was leased out to a smaller oil company, Venoco. But in 2015, a corroded pipeline carrying oil from Holly burst, dumping over 100,000 gallons of crude oil into the Santa Barbara Channel. Soon after the Refugio Beach Spill, Venoco declared bankruptcy and handed the rig over to the state.
A happy accident.
Since its installation in 1966, the base of the oil rig has hosted sea life, as Holly's underwater steel spire acts as a vertical and artificial reef. From rock fish near the surface to lobsters at the shell mounds on the base, Holly is a hotspot for biodiversity. The decommissioned platform's continuing underwater success makes it a candidate for a rigs-to-reefs program.
Keep the rig and the reef or destroy them both.
California is now faced with a decision: keep the retired rig or tear it down. Some want Holly gone, after recurring spills in Santa Barbara have wrought destruction and death on surrounding marine wildlife. Others push aside a traumatic past to see a reef brimming with flora and fauna that are in-need of saving.
A road of red tape ahead.
The California State Lands Commission is in final steps of plugging the wells Holly once drilled from. Next, it must move forward with an environmental impact assessment as the state consults with the public. Making a decision will take years. So for now, Holly must continue to sit, rust and wait.
STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCES
Board Member of Get Oil Out
Carla
Frisk
A Santa Barbara resident since 1974, Frisk has worked in local and state environmental policy, specializing in hazardous materials.
Milton
Love
Research Biologist
Love conducts research on the oil rig and its underwater biodiversity at the UC Santa Barbara Marine Science Institute.
Chris
Goldblatt
Founder and CEO of Fish Reefs Project
Goldblatt's Santa Barbara-based nonprofit organization seeks to revive an exterminated kelp forest off the coast of Goleta.
Lawyer & Documentary Filmmaker
Gail
Osherenko
Osherenko has extensive experience practicing environmental law and policy. She specializes in marine and coastal science.
Linda
Krop
Santa Barbara Environmental Defense Center
Krop has worked at the heart of environmental law and policy in Santa Barbara for decades, experiencing numerous oil spills.
Hunter Lenihan
Marine Community Ecologist
Lenihan is a professor of marine and fishery biology at UC Santa Barbara's Bren school of environmental management.
Sheri
Pemberton
California State Lands Commission
Pemberton is Chief of External Affairs at the state lands commission, where she manages state and federal legislation.
