page_title: La Goleta Gas Field
section_title: Geographic setting
hierarchical_section_title: La Goleta Gas Field / Geographic setting
caption_attribution_description: English: Goleta Gas Field, looking east, from a Cessna just taking off from the Santa Barbara Airport. Photo by self, cc-by-sa 3.0.
context_page_description: The La Goleta Gas Field is a natural gas field in unincorporated Santa Barbara County, California, adjacent to the city of Goleta. Discovered in 1929, and first put into production in 1932, it has been in continuous use ever since, producing approximately 12 billion cubic feet of gas. With production declining, the field was converted into a gas storage reservoir in 1941. As of 2016 it remains one of the four gas storage facilities maintained by Southern California Gas Company, a division of Sempra Energy, with the others being Aliso Canyon, Honor Rancho and Playa del Rey. It is the oldest storage facility of the four and the third largest, with a maximum capacity of 21.5 billion cubic feet. The storage facilities are necessary to balance load for the over ten million customers of SoCalGas: during summer months, when gas usage is at a minimum, gas is pumped into the reservoirs; and in the winter when usage is high, gas is withdrawn. The La Goleta field serves the northern portion of SoCalGas's geographic range.
  In 2013 the field had 19 active gas wells and two observation wells.
context_section_description: The field is on the coast near the city of Goleta. The westernmost part of the field is within the property of the University of California, Santa Barbara; a cluster of gas wells operates just north of the east entrance roundabout.  The field extends east from there under the narrow neck of the Goleta Slough where it drains to the Pacific Ocean; under Mescalitan Island, where a cluster of wells shares the remnant island with the Goleta Sewage Treatment Plant; under Goleta Beach County Park; and finally to a blufftop at the western end of the range of low hills that extends along the shore eastward through More Mesa to Hope Ranch. The main gas processing facility for the field, and all recent development, are on this blufftop, on a single 147.4-acre parcel owned by SoCalGas, hidden from view by the elevated terrain and a dense grove of trees on the north.  From the beach, operations are hidden by the steep coastal bluff.
  Land uses in the vicinity of the gas field are primarily agricultural and recreational, with a major transportation corridor cutting through (California Highway 217 from UCSB to US Highway 101). In addition, the Goleta Slough and Atascadero Creek include protected wetlands, and important wildlife habitats occur throughout the area occupied by the gas field. A mobile home park is adjacent to the field on the north, at the southern end of Ward Drive.
  Climate in the area is Mediterranean, with warm summers and mild, rainy winters. Rain does not ordinarily occur between April and October in any significant amount. Site drainage is to the Pacific Ocean, either directly down the bluff, or into Atascadero Creek and Goleta Slough. Stormwater from the processing plant and adjacent areas on the blufftop runs through a treatment system before being channeled north into Atascadero Creek.
caption: La Goleta Gas Field, from the west. Goleta Beach County Park is to the right; the processing area is in the left center, next to the trees.
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