A Field Guide to Oil in Santa Barbara

ARCO Controversy 1980s

Documents related to the controversy over building three more offshore platforms just off the coast of Coal Oil Point in the 1980s. UCSB Special Collections, Robert Sollen Collection, circa 1954-1996, SBHC MSS 33, Box 10.

These documents are from the UC Santa Barbara Library’s Special Collections. This box was created with documents from Robert Sollen who reported on environmental news impacting the Santa Barbara Channel from 1963 to 1985. He was also an active member of Get Oil Out (GOO) and the Los Padres chapter of the Sierra Club. All clippings are from local newspapers, which provide insight into the politically charged environment that surrounded ARCO’s proposal in the 1980s, and demonstrate the community’s deep involvement in the issue through public hearings.

ARCO Controversy 1 ARCO Controversy 2 ARCO Controversy 3