Join us for a rally to say NO to offshore drilling and YES to clean energy! Help send a message to our local leaders, Sacramento legislators, and the federal government that the Santa Barbara Channel and other waters off California should be off-limits to new offshore oil drilling.
On Saturday, September 26, 2026, Surfrider Ventura, Sierra Club Ventura, Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG), community members, and special guests will gather at the beach west of the Ventura Pier as part of a statewide Hands Across the Sand day of action opposing expanded offshore oil drilling. Participants will join hands along the shoreline to show support for ocean protection, clean energy, coastal economies, and climate action. Free Surfrider T-Shirts for the first 50 people and free burritos for the first 100 people at the event!! Please wear a blue or green shirt to represent the ocean.
The event starts at 11:00 with music, food, and art activities. There will be a Chumash welcome, special guest speakers, community speakers, and group chants followed by the Hands Across The Sand activation at 12 noon. Click here to register so we know how many burritos to bring :) Bring your homemade signs to the event, and we'll have art supplies to make more at the beach.
Look for us on the beach roughly between the Crowne Plaza hotel and the ocean. Please walk, bike, or carpool if you can. If you drive, the closest parking is paid parking at the city parking structure on Harbor Blvd, just east of California Street. There is free parking across the freeway at Ash St parking, and then you take the walkway over the freeway to the pier and beach.
This fun community event is in response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s 5-year plan proposing new offshore oil and gas lease sales across 1.2 billion acres of U.S. coastal waters, including the Santa Barbara Channel, the rest of California, Alaska, and the Gulf of Mexico. In 2026, the Trump administration fast-tracked the restart of the same oil pipeline that spilled at El Refugio State Beach in 2015. Then owned by Plains All American, the operation has since been acquired by Sable Offshore Corp.
Oil spills have been tied to the Central Coast’s history for decades. In early 1969, a blowout on an oil rig offshore from Santa Barbara made national headlines. For a period of ten days, an estimated 3.4 to 4.2 million gallons of crude oil flowed into the Channel, closing nearby beaches and critically threatening flora and fauna. The largest spill recorded at the time, the event created the groundswell for the first-ever Earth Day, on April 22 of the following year.
Join us in saying NO to offshore oil drilling and YES to a clean energy future!
As Surfrider's Central California Regional Manager, Bill helps chapters tackle pollution issues that are affecting the marine environment. Before covering the area between Ventura and Santa Cruz, he worked with the San Diego Chapter for five years.