Goleta City Council Talks Ellwood Oil

On Tuesday, the Goleta City Council got a full rundown of the proposal by Venoco, Inc. to re-open the oil wells located adjacent to Sandpiper Golf Course, and the staff assured that a letter would be submitted to the State Lands Commission from the city as part of the ongoing environmental review of the project, known as PRC 421. But while the tone of planner Anne Wells and city attorney Tim Giles suggested that there a number of unanswered questions that remain, the actual wording of the letter wasn’t discussed, nor did the council give any direction or vote on what it should say. That left some in the crowd scratching their heads, including the Environmental Defense Center’s Linda Krop, a Goleta resident who spoke about her specific concerns during the public comment period, but Wells did promise her comments would be “really detailed.” The city’s letter, and all public comments on the 900-page environmental report, are due this Friday.