Lawyers for the Coast

From the Los Padres National Forest to the Channel Islands, the Central Coast of California contains some of the most extraordinary landscapes on Earth – sparkling ocean vistas, expansive open spaces, majestic mountains, and oak-covered hills. What’s remarkable is that so much of it has remained wild and undeveloped despite intense and continuous pressure from oil companies and other industries. That’s due in no small part to the work of the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), celebrating its milestone 50th anniversary in 2027. 

Founded in 1977 in response to the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill disaster that launched the environmental movement nationwide, this nonprofit environmental law firm and advocacy organization has been tirelessly working to protect this special part of the world for the last five decades. 

In that time, this regional organization working out of a modest historic adobe in downtown Santa Barbara has stopped numerous major oil and gas projects, keeping most of this coast free from fossil fuel infrastructure while working to transition to clean renewables like offshore wind energy. EDC has helped to preserve more than 100,000 acres of iconic open space on the Central Coast, including Hearst Ranch, Ellwood Mesa, and Oxnard Shores. And it has won protections for wildlife, ecosystems, and human health across the region.

As the only nonprofit environmental law firm serving the Central Coast (Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties), EDC has represented more than 140 nonprofit, community, and Tribal organizations at low or no cost, including the Sierra Club, Citizens for the Carpinteria Bluffs, CAUSE, and the Surfrider Foundation, among many others. Working with its clients and coalition partners across the state, the EDC team successfully uses legal action, public policy, and old-fashioned grassroots advocacy to safeguard one of the planet’s richest biodiversity hotspots. 

“The Santa Barbara Channel and our forests are under attack,” says Linda Krop, EDC’s long-standing Chief Counsel. “While we continue to stand up against dangerous oil projects like the Sable pipeline, we are also defending against relentless attacks on the very laws that make this work possible.”

At a time of escalating climate disasters around the world and increasing threats from the current federal administration, this work is more important than ever. Your support helps EDC fight for a Central Coast where people and nature thrive for generations to come.