A divided City Council voted to voice public safety and other concerns about a proposal to restart an oil pipeline that runs underneath Buellton.

In a 2-1 vote Thursday, the council agreed to send a letter noting concerns and urging the pipeline’s relocation outside Buellton, the only city where a segment of the 122-mile oil pipeline runs underneath some residential properties and a park.

Offline since the 2015 failure that sent oil into the ocean at Refugio State Beach, Sable Offshore Corp. is attempting to restart operations.

Buellton’s letter will be sent to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, which later this month will consider an appeal related to the restart of the oil production and use of the pipeline again. 

Mayor David Silva and Councilwoman Elysia Lewis voted in favor of the motion, while Councilman John Sanchez was the lone opponent.

Councilman Hudson Hornick, an attorney employed by Santa Barbara County, stepped off the dais and did not participate in the discussion. The fifth seat remains vacant.

“It’s not about oil or no oil. It’s about a pipeline through our town,” Silva said. 

He and Lewis said the letter should recommend a new route for the pipeline to avoid being under Buellton. 

“I just feel like this is the bare minimum we could do to provide protection to our community and try and make it better for them,” Silva said. “Whether or not it’s successful, we should try and make things better for the community. I do feel it would be better for this town, than not, to not have a pipeline run through the middle of it.”

“My stance is I don’t think a pipeline that we know is very, very old and probably not up to the same standards we would use today in our city under where our kids play and where our animals and families live,” Lewis said. 

Sanchez said he didn’t believe the City Council should take a stance, noting the long-standing policy against getting into political or other regional, state and federal issues.

“The pipeline’s already there, it’s already buried and it already comes through town and they have safety checks,” Sanchez said. “We’re not going to shut down this pipeline because we send a letter to the county.”

Compared to other cities, Buellton has a deeper reason for diving into the issue — the pipeline’s underground path. 

“It is the only city in the county that the pipeline runs directly through,” City Manager Scott Wolfe said. “As such, the City of Buellton is kind of in a unique position to protest the safety of the pipeline with regard to its own residents directly.”

Appropriate topics to convey to the county would be rerouting the pipeline to bypass the city, seeking safety matters, including better inspections and mitigation of corrosion for the pipe running under Buellton, and crafting a spill mitigation plan, Wolfe said. 

The pipeline, which was installed in the late 1980s before Buellton became a city, runs under the yards of approximately 30 homeowners’ properties, city staff added.

Residents had requested that Buellton’s council take a stance on the matter involving the pipeline with a convoluted history.

Buellton resident Diane Craig expressed concerns about safety, noting Exxon had proposed in 2017 relocating the pipeline out the city. 

“I urge this council to urge the county to require any new owner to do the same,” Craig added. 

Several speakers referred to a prior issue involving the pipeline’s clearing process, which created a foul odor, dubbed “the big stink” by resident Larry Bishop.

“The night without sleep — I remember that,” Bishop said, asking the city to urge the  county and state to stop the restart of the pipeline. “There’s a lot of corrosion problems they’re not addressing and they haven’t addressed in 35 years.”

Speakers noted the potential hazard if oil damages the city’s water supply or pollutes the Santa Ynez River. 

“Buellton is the location with the most to lose if Sable is allowed to restart pumping oil through the current pipeline,” said Theresa Reilly, a board member for WE Watch. “It goes right through your prime park and well-established residential schools area in a pipe that has already demonstrated it’s compromised state.”

The process to restart oil production has a lengthy history.

On Feb. 25, the  county Board of Supervisors will consider appeals of the Planning Commission’s approval for transferring the permits to Sable.

Meanwhile, a Buellton area property owner, Zaca Preserve, has filed a lawsuit seeking a new easement or rerouting of the pipeline running through the property.