A Seep as Big as a Spill

If you’ve ever sunk your sandals into a fresh glob of tar on the sands between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara, you know the feeling. It’s a familiar, frustrating rite of passage for locals on the 805 coastline. We usually blame passing ships or offshore platforms. But according to a recent op-ed in the Santa Barbara Independent, the real culprit is much closer to home—and Mother Nature is entirely to blame.

The authors of the piece—Mike Stoker, James W. Rector, Joseph Silvi, and Michael Mische—dropped a staggering comparison to make their point. They argue that over the course of just a few days, the natural seeps at Coal Oil Point (COP) burp out an equivalent amount of oil into the ocean as the infamous 2015 Refugio oil spill.

That’s a massive claim, but when you look at the history of the area, it holds water. The seeps near Coal Oil Point, located just west of UCSB, are the largest marine seeps in the world. The op-ed points out that the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District considers the gases from these seeps to be one of the largest contributors to air pollution in the county. In fact, the area functions as a kind of natural environmental Superfund site. Since 2015 alone, these seeps have leaked the equivalent of hundreds of Refugio oil spills.

The Physics of the Seep

How does a natural process cause so much damage? It all comes down to underground pressure. Hydrocarbons are trapped in reservoirs beneath the ocean floor. Over time, pressure builds, forcing oil and gas upward through faults in the earth's crust until they breach the seabed. Once they hit the water, the oil rises to the surface, creating slicks that eventually break down into the tar balls that wash up on our local beaches.

The op-ed’s authors argue that there is a proven, decades-old solution to this pollution, one that might seem entirely counterintuitive in a city famous for its environmentalism: drill for the oil.

The physics, they explain, is straightforward. Producing oil and gas from the reservoirs lowers the underground pressure. Lower pressure means less force pushing the hydrocarbons up to the surface. Furthermore, extracting those hydrocarbons reduces the overall volume of oil and gas available to seep out.

A Contentious History

To understand their argument, you have to look back at the South Ellwood oil field, which sits directly beneath Coal Oil Point. For years, historical production from this field actively reduced the rate of natural seepage. But when production was abruptly halted in 2015 following the Plains All American pipeline leak at Refugio, the pressure began to build again.

Since then, the op-ed authors note an observable increase in seepage. Residents and beachgoers have reported pervasive oil slicks, increased methane bubbles at Coal Oil Point, and a noticeable uptick in tar on South Coast beaches. By shutting down local production, California essentially picked its poison, deciding that the risk of industrial oil extraction was worse than the relentless, unabating pollution of natural seeps.

The 2015 Refugio spill was a watershed moment for the 805, galvanizing a fierce anti-offshore drilling movement. The pipeline rupture dumped over 100,000 gallons of crude along the Gaviota Coast, devastating wildlife and coating beaches in a thick, black sludge. It was a visible, horrifying disaster. But the authors of the op-ed—which includes Mike Stoker, a former Santa Barbara County Supervisor and former Southwest Administrator of the U.S. EPA, alongside UC-Berkeley professors James W. Rector and Joseph Silvi, and USC professor Michael Mische—argue that natural seeps are quietly doing the exact same thing, day in and day out, without the same public outcry.

The Onshore Solution

Critics of the op-ed will undoubtedly point to the inherent risks of oil extraction. However, the authors emphasize that offshore platforms are no longer a necessity. They argue that modern directional drilling technology allows companies to access the oil beneath Coal Oil Point from onshore locations, entirely removing the need for new rigs on the ocean horizon.

By safely and responsibly producing the hydrocarbons in the South Ellwood field, they believe we could deplete the source of the seeps and stop the pollution at its origin. What's more, this solution wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime, addressing a current reality where no public funds exist to mitigate natural seep pollution.

A Dirty Future?

Someday, the EV revolution will fully take hold, and fossil fuels won't command the value they do today. But even when every car on the 101 is powered by a battery, the earth beneath the Pacific will keep churning.

If the state's current anti-drilling policies continue, the authors warn, the seeps will remain. Future generations of Santa Barbara residents will still be scrubbing tar off their feet, and our coastal air will remain burdened by natural emissions. It’s a complex, uncomfortable paradox for the Central Coast: sometimes, the cleanest beach might require drawing the very substance we’re trying to keep out of the water.