Press Room
Read EDC’s recent and historical press releases, editorials, and reports.
Environmental Defense Center Welcomes New Board Members
August 22, 2024The Environmental Defense Center (EDC), one of the nation’s longest-running nonprofit environmental law firms working to protect the Central Coast and the Earth’s climate, today announced three new high profile board members in the areas of science, public health, environmental law. Joining EDC’s Board of Directors in recent months are Dr. Jai Ranganathan, an ecologist and data scientist; Dr. Van Do-Reynoso, the former head of the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department; and Antonette (Toni) Cordero, a leading civil rights and environmental justice attorney in California.
Read MoreEnvironmental Defense Center Stops Sable Offshore Oil Corporation from Concealing Oil Spill Plan
August 20, 2024A Superior Court judge ruled today that the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) is entitled to receive an oil company document outlining the dangers of restarting the former Plains pipeline – the same pipeline that caused the catastrophic Refugio oil spill in 2015. Sable Offshore, a Texas-based oil company attempting to restart the failed pipeline, sued the State of California and EDC in an attempt to prevent EDC from receiving a copy of the document. Today the Sacramento County Superior Court held a hearing on Sable’s request for a preliminary injunction. The Court ruled that there were no binding legal impediments to the State releasing the information to the public and denied the request.
Read MoreSable Offshore Sues the State and the Nonprofit Environmental Defense Center to Stop Public from Knowing About Risks of Oil Project
August 15, 2024Sable Offshore Corp., a Texas oil company attempting to restart a failed pipeline that caused one of worst oil spills in recent California history, has sued the State of California and a Santa Barbara-based environmental nonprofit to conceal information about the dangers of its plan. The Environmental Defense Center (EDC), one of the longest-running nonprofit environmental law firms in the nation, has been fighting to stop the restart of the pipeline and other equipment formerly owned by ExxonMobil, including three offshore drilling platforms shut down since the catastrophic 2015 Refugio spill.
Read MoreEnvironmental Defense Center Welcomes New Staff Members
July 01, 2024The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) – one of the nation’s longest-running nonprofit environmental law firms working to protect the California coast, natural resources, and the earth’s climate – has added three highly qualified new staff members to its team. Jeremy Frankel, a Goleta native, has joined the legal team as a Staff Attorney. Matt Campa, who was serving as a Legal Fellow with EDC, is starting in a new position: Staff Attorney/Environmental Justice Program Outreach Coordinator. And Brandi Webber, a long time Santa Barbara resident, has filled the position of Office Manager & Event Coordinator. The new hires support the organization’s long-term goals to defend nature and advance environmental justice on the Central Coast.
Read MoreEnvironmental Defense Center to Honor Hillary Hauser of Heal the Ocean with 2024 Environmental Hero Award
May 20, 2024The Environmental Defense Center – one of the nation’s longest-running nonprofit law firms working to protect California’s coast and the earth’s climate – today announced that its 2024 Environmental Hero award will be presented to Hillary Hauser at the organization’s annual event on Sunday, June 9th. Ms. Hauser is the founder and Executive Director of Santa Barbara nonprofit Heal the Ocean (HTO), which focuses on wastewater infrastructure (sewers and septic systems) and on protecting the marine environment from dumping and other forms of pollution. Ms. Hauser will accept the award at EDC’s annual fundraising event, Green & Blue: A Coastal Celebration, on June 9th at the Stow House in Goleta, CA. Prior recipients of the Environmental Hero award include Jane Fonda, Northern Chumash Tribal Council leader Violent Sage Walker, and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard.
Read MoreLegal Fight to Preserve Agricultural Heritage in Santa Ynez Valley Ends in Success
March 25, 2024The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN) celebrated the withdrawal of an appeal by developers, leaving in place a Superior Court decision in favor of preserving agriculture in the Santa Ynez Valley. The multi-year effort by developers to subdivide the 4,000-acre historic Rancho La Laguna into 13 parcels could have resulted in construction of over a dozen high-end residential estates. The owners of Rancho La Laguna, including a Hollywood producer, sued the County in 2017 after the Board of Supervisors denied the subdivision. EDC, on behalf of SBCAN, intervened in the lawsuit to defend the County’s action. In 2023, a Santa Barbara Superior Court ruled against the developers in their lawsuit, upholding the County’s denial of Rancho La Laguna’s proposal to subdivide. The developers appealed the Superior Court’s decision, but they have now withdrawn the appeal, formally ending the litigation.
Read MoreExxonMobil Drops Court Bid to Truck Oil in Santa Barbara
February 16, 2024ExxonMobil’s dangerous proposal to truck massive amounts of oil along California highways is dead after the company dropped its lawsuit challenging Santa Barbara County’s denial of the plan. Exxon’s plan would have helped the company restart three drilling platforms off the Santa Barbara coast. The platforms, built in the 1980s, have been shut down since the disastrous 2015 Refugio oil spill that leaked more than 140,000 gallons of heavy crude on the Gaviota Coast and into the ocean. Exxon notified the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California late Thursday that the company is dismissing its lawsuit.
Read MoreCourt Approves Settlement Between Environmental Groups and Twitchell Dam Operator to Protect Endangered Steelhead
October 13, 2023On October 12, a federal court approved a settlement agreement that will help the endangered Southern California Steelhead make a comeback in Santa Barbara County by allowing more water to flow into the Santa Maria River.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in 2019 by environmental groups alleging that the operators of Twitchell Dam violated the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) by cutting off the flow of water into important Steelhead habitat. Prior to the Dam’s construction, thousands of Steelhead migrated from the ocean to upstream spawning grounds. But without enough water, the fish become stranded in dry riverbeds, and the local population has cratered.
Read MoreSupreme Court Decision Upholds Ruling that Twitchell Dam Operators Must Comply with Federal Law to Protect Endangered Fish
October 02, 2023The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from the operators of Twitchell Dam to avoid protecting the endangered Southern California Steelhead in the Santa Maria River system. This is a big win for steelhead, for the watershed, and for our local communities. The decision leaves in place last year’s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals holding that the Bureau of Reclamation and the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District can release water from the Dam to comply with the ESA. This ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Plaintiffs San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper and Los Padres ForestWatch in 2019, represented by the Environmental Defense Center, Sycamore Law, Inc., and Aqua Terra Aeris Law Group. The case alleged that the Dam’s operators are violating the Endangered Species Act by limiting the quantity and timing of flows in the Santa Maria River to levels that harm the critically-imperiled Steelhead population.
Read MoreCourt Upholds Denial of ExxonMobil Plan to Truck Oil in Santa Barbara and Restart Offshore Drilling
September 27, 2023The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California upheld Santa Barbara County’s denial of ExxonMobil’s proposal to transport oil by tanker trucks along hazardous California highways. The plan would have helped the company restart three 1980s drilling platforms off the Santa Barbara coast, shut down since the disastrous Refugio oil spill eight years ago.
ExxonMobil’s proposal would have allowed the company to truck vast quantities of oil on coastal Highway 101 and Route 166. The plan to haul millions of gallons of oil per week through Santa Barbara County would have been a step towards restarting the company’s offshore platforms and resuming operations at its Las Flores Canyon processing facility, which when operational was the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the County.
Read MoreAppeal Aims to Protect California’s Pine Mountain, Reyes Peak from Controversial Logging Project
September 19, 2023Conservation groups filed an appeal on September 19, 2023, in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to cancel a controversial logging and vegetation clearing project atop Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak in Southern California’s Los Padres National Forest. The appeal seeks to protect a remote ridgeline important to Indigenous groups, climbers, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts concerned about the future of this popular forest. In 2022, a coalition of conservation organizations filed lawsuits against the Forest Service on the grounds that the logging and chaparral clearing project would violate environmental laws, harm vulnerable wildlife, and do irreparable damage to the ecology of the forest.
Read MoreEnvironmental Groups Win Legal Fight to Preserve Agricultural Heritage in Santa Ynez Valley
August 09, 2023The Environmental Defense Center and Santa Barbara County Action Network today celebrated a win in Superior Court that preserves agricultural heritage in the Santa Ynez Valley. The Court’s decision stops a proposal to subdivide the 4,000-acre historic Rancho La Laguna into 13 parcels, which could allow for building of high-end residential estates. A nearby massive development by one of the same developers was listed for $21.5 million and marketed as a “plantation style manor house” with “endless manicured lawns,” an enormous swimming pool, a barn for eight horses, and other amenities.
“This was an important win in the effort to preserve the agricultural economy and spirit of the Santa Ynez Valley,” said EDC Senior Attorney Alicia Roessler. “Farming and ranching are not only part of our heritage of this area – it’s also a major part of our local economy. Approval of this project would have set a terrible precedent, paving the way for other large-scale subdivisions that would threaten critical agricultural land and biodiversity across Santa Barbara County.”
Read MoreCourt Rules in Favor of Controversial Logging and Chaparral Clearing Project on Pine Mountain
July 21, 2023On July 19, 2023, a federal judge declined to halt a controversial logging and vegetation clearing project atop Pine Mountain and Reyes Peak in the Los Padres National Forest. The ruling comes nearly two years after the project was approved despite the opposition of Indigenous groups, conservation organizations, scientists, businesses, local governments, and members of the general public who submitted a collective 16,000 comments to the Forest Service.
Read MoreSupreme Court Denies Oil Industry Challenge to California Offshore Fracking Moratorium
June 05, 2023The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear a challenge to a court-ordered prohibition on offshore fracking in federal waters off the California coast. Today’s decision leaves in place last year’s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the federal government violated the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and Coastal Zone Management Act when it allowed fracking and acidizing extraction practices at all offshore oil and gas wells in leased federal waters in the Pacific Ocean.
Read MoreEDC to Honor Patagonia, Inc. with 2023 Environmental Hero Award
May 18, 2023EDC, one of the nation’s longest-running nonprofit law firms working to protect California’s coast and the earth’s climate – announced that its 2023 Environmental Hero award will be presented to Patagonia, Inc. EDC is delighted to honor Ventura-based Patagonia for its longstanding commitment to responsible business and action to protect nature and biodiversity, support thriving communities and fight the climate crisis. Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert will accept the award at EDC’s annual fundraising event, Green & Blue: A Coastal Celebration, on June 11th at the Stow House in Goleta, CA. The award presentation will be followed by an interview-style conversation between Ryan and Leah Stokes, UCSB Professor of Political Science and a leading expert in energy, climate, and environmental politics.
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