Local relations with the oil industry gradually soured through the period . Production at Summerland had ended , Elwood was winding down , and to find new fields oil companies carried out seismic exploration of the Channel using explosives , a controversial practice that local fishermen claimed harmed their catch . The culminating disaster , and one of the formative events in the modern environmental movement , was the blowout at Union Oil 's Platform A on the Dos Cuadras Field , about eight miles ( 13 km ) southeast of Santa Barbara in the Santa Barbara Channel , on January 28 , 1969 . Approximately of oil surged out of a huge undersea break , fouling hundreds of square miles of ocean and all the coastline from Ventura to Goleta , as well north facing beaches on the Channel Islands . Two legislative consequences of the spill in the next year were the passages of the California Environmental Quality Act ( CEQA ) and the National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA ) ; locally , outraged citizens formed GOO ( Get Oil Out ) . Santa Barbara 's business community strove to attract development until the surge in the anti-growth movement in the 1970s . Many " clean " industries , especially aerospace firms such as Raytheon and Delco Electronics , moved to town in the 1950s and 1960s , bringing employees from other parts of the U.S. UCSB itself became a major employer . In 1975 , the city passed an ordinance restricting growth to a maximum of 85,000 residents , through zoning . Growth in the adjacent Goleta Valley could be shut down by denying water meters to developers seeking permits . As a result of these changes , growth slowed down , but prices rose sharply
blowout at Union Oil 's Platform A
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill
Santa Barbara, California