A month after state’s worst oil leak in decades, the investigation into what went wrong is ongoing. In the meantime, officials are considering a bid to triple output

Just over a month after California experienced its worst oil spill in decades, the state is considering allowing a company to triple its oil production off the coast of Santa Barbara and run the oil through the same pipeline that leaked on 19 May.

Both oil producers Venoco and ExxonMobil had to halt operations in the region this week as crews continued repairing the ruptured pipeline and cleaning the beaches surrounding it. But that didn’t stop regulators at the State Lands Commission from holding a hearing for Venoco in Goleta, California.

Local regulators heard a proposal from Venoco to expand their offshore oil operations near Santa Barbara. Activists say that expansion would create three times the volume of oil, which would have to be transported through the same Plains All American Pipeline that spilled over 100,000 gallons of oil onto Refugio Beach and its surrounding waters last month.

Outside, dozens of protesters donning hazmat suits carried an inflatable mock-pipeline to voice their concern over increased oil drilling off the California coast.

Ruptured pipeline on California coast spills oil into ocean – in pictures Read more

“We’re already suffering from the worst spill in decades,” said Kristen Monsell, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and one of the protesters at Wednesday’s event. “Imagine if that spill had been three times the size. The coastal environment just can’t handle another devastating spill.”

State senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, who will hold a hearing on the Plains Pipeline spill on Friday, also expressed concern.

“The public obviously is not very happy about it and the timing is very problematic,” she said. “I’m concerned about expanding oil drilling, period, but I’m especially concerned about expanding it before we have answers to the questions about how to make sure this never happens again.”

Venoco would not comment on the record for this story, but in a fact sheet stated that its new activity would bring “a number of economic and environmental benefits to the state of California”.

Because California has a law prohibiting new offshore drilling leases, the Venoco deal would involve a rare lease swap in which the company would give back some of the land it currently uses to California in exchange for the ability to tap into pre-existing but inactive oil wells in another section of ocean. Both sections of ocean are part of the California Coastal Sanctuary.

Venoco’s statement said the project would provide about $200m in property tax revenue to Santa Barbara County over 30 years and create dozens of new jobs. But activists point out that those increases would come from shipping three times as much oil through the troubled Plains All American Pipeline.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters challenge the proposal to triple oil production. Photograph: Drew Bird

“We’re not OK with expanding oil operations off our coast,” Becca Claassen, an activist with Food and Water Watch, said. “We see the land swap as representing an increase and expansion in offshore drilling at the same time we’re trying to transition away from offshore drilling.”

Meanwhile, state regulators are trying to figure out what went wrong on 19 May. The spill coated Refugio Beach in oil slick, which was then washed deep into the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Hundreds of birds were killed along with other marine animals, including dolphins. The beach remains closed while crews finish their clean up.

“We are 93% complete,” said Eric Laughlin, a spokesperson for the California department of fish and wildlife. “But that remaining 7% is going to take a while because it’s all shoreline,” which is more complex to clean up than oil in water water.

State senators held a hearing on Friday to figure out why the Plains pipeline ruptured in the first place.

A test run on the pipeline two weeks before the incident showed that it was deeply flawed, missing 50% of its metal in some sections. But that test wasn’t analyzed in time to stop the spill. After the spill, federal regulators said that corrosion had eroded even more than the test had shown: 80% of the pipeline’s metal in the section where it ruptured was gone.

Igor Mezic, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara, said he didn’t believe Plains All American was particularly negligent, though they likely could have used more updated technology to shut off the leak sooner.

“There should be an automated system that shuts things off,” he said. “Things can be done better.”

But Mezic also said drilling was likely to continue despite activists concerns.

“The drilling and the production is going to continue,” he said. “There’s no way to stop it and not cause substantial economic damage. And there are methods out there that can make it more safe.”

Federal and state investigators are also looking into Plains All American’s response to the disaster. It took the company several hours to notify authorities that the pipeline had ruptured.

“There’s a gap of 2.5 to 3.5 hours, depending on who you talk to,” state senator Jackson said. “The quicker you can contain something, the quicker you can contain the damage. We’re going to do what we can to inquire about that.”

California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, along with Massachusetts senator Edward J Markey, all Democrats, sent a letter late last month to the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration questioning the delay.

“Based on this timeline, we are concerned that Plains Pipeline may not have detected this spill or reported it to federal officials as quickly as possible, and that these delays could have exacerbated the extent of the damage to the environment,” they wrote.

State attorney general Kamala Harris earlier this month announced her office would investigate the incident and decide whether to pursue criminal charges over the spill. While Harris would not divulge many details about the investigation, she called the revelation that the pipeline had been badly corroded troubling.

Oil that scientists have chemically identified as coming from the Plains pipeline has been found as far as 100 miles away along beaches. And some residents along the coast this week filed a class action lawsuit against Plains All American for damage to their waterfront property.

But activists said any wins in court wouldn’t be enough. They’re using the incident to push their mission to end offshore drilling in California completely.

“I’ve been checking the beach and there are big globs of oil washing up every day,” Claassen said. “It’s never going to be completely cleaned up. The industry is getting more and more dangerous.”