A coalition of environmental groups has sued the Office of the State Fire Marshal over state waivers granted to restart the pipeline that ruptured and caused the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
Sable Offshore Corp. plans to restart Santa Ynez Unit oil production, and is pursuing approvals from multiple agencies. Several local environmental groups are opposing the effort and have filed lawsuits challenging the waivers and other approvals.
On Tuesday, the Environmental Defense Center and the Center for Biological Diversity filed separate lawsuits in Santa Barbara County Superior Court challenging the OSFM decision to grant the waivers to Sable, citing concerns over the pipeline’s condition. Both lawsuits named the department and State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant as defendants.
“With the current administration undermining progress on the climate crisis, California should be leading the transition away from fossil fuels,” Linda Krop, chief counsel of the EDC, said in a statement.
“Instead, the state fire marshal is allowing a dangerous project to move forward without critical safety requirements. The decision clearly conflicts with requirements under state and federal law and puts the California coast, wildlife, our communities and local businesses in harm’s way.”
Along with the EDC, the groups listed in the lawsuit include the Santa Barbara-Ventura chapter of the Sierra Club, Get Oil Out!, the Santa Barbara County Action Network and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper.
The groups claim that the state granted Sable waivers allowing the company to operate the pipeline without complying with regulatory requirements. The EDC claims that Sable plans to operate the pipeline using cathodic protection, which prevents the corrosion of metal pipes. Investigations of the 2015 oil spill found that the pipeline was extensively corroded, which caused the pipeline failure.
“The risks of operating the Las Flores Pipeline System without effective cathodic protection have never been fully evaluated. However, an analysis prepared by OSFM found that operating buried pipelines without cathodic protection can increase the risk of a spill by as much as five times. And a separate analysis, discussed below, found that operating this particular pipeline system without effective cathodic protection could result in a spill every year, and a major rupture every four,” the lawsuit claimed.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Foundation claimed in a separate lawsuit that the Office of the State Fire Marshal assured the group it would not issue the waivers before holding a public meeting. The lawsuit complaint stated that the waivers were later issued with no notice or public comment period.
“It’s inexcusable to waive safety standards for an old, fatally flawed pipeline system that already failed catastrophically once,” Julie Teel Simmonds, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
“Exempting this pipeline from basic corrosion prevention requirements is a mindbogglingly shortsighted move that puts our incredible coastline at risk of yet another massive spill. The state fire marshal pushed out these waivers without even taking a hard look at all the environmental and public safety risks, and our marine wildlife and coastal communities could wind up once again covered in toxic crude.”
A civil complaint represents only the plaintiff’s side of a story. The state had not filed a response in court as of Tuesday afternoon.
A representative for Sable declined to comment on the lawsuits filed Tuesday.
Pipeline Restart Plans
The pipeline in question is part of the Santa Ynez Unit, which Sable hopes to restart so it can resume oil production in Santa Barbara County. The unit includes the pipelines, three offshore oil platforms and a processing facility.
In 2015, the pipeline along the Gaviota Coast ruptured and spilled 123,000 gallons of oil onto the coast and into the ocean.
The unit was previously owned by Plains All-American Pipeline. The company was found civilly and criminally liable for the spill after investigators found that ineffective cathodic protection and pipeline corrosion caused the rupture.
The Santa Ynez Unit was sold to ExxonMobil and then transferred to Sable in 2022.
Since then, Sable has taken over restart efforts and has begun work to repair and replace segments of the pipeline. The construction caught the eye of the California Coastal Commission, which ordered Sable to stop its work since it was allegedly done without permits.
Sable sued the commission and claims permits issued in the 1980s provided authorization to conduct repair work on the pipelines.
On Thursday, the Coastal Commission met in Santa Barbara and voted to fine Sable $18 million for violating its cease-and-desist orders.
