Sable Offshore Corp. sued the California Coastal Commission on Tuesday, challenging the agency’s cease-and-desist orders for its Santa Barbara County pipeline work.
The complaint alleges the notices of violation and orders “unlawfully prevent” the company’s repair and maintenance work along the pipelines.
Sable plans to restart oil production for three offshore platforms, the processing facility, and pipelines that have been shut down for nearly a decade.
The pipeline along the Gaviota Coast ruptured and caused the May 19, 2015 Refugio oil spill.
Crews were replacing sections of the coastal pipeline, installing safety valves and doing other projects in September and October.
Sable claimed that counts as maintenance and repairs; Coastal Commission enforcement staff alleged that work requires a new permit, and issued a cease-and-desist order in November.
Santa Barbara County allows “anomaly repair” pipeline work under existing permits, Sable says, and safety valve replacement work was authorized by a lawsuit settlement agreement with the county.
“Span remediation maintenance” is also covered by existing permits, Sable claims in the lawsuit filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
The lawsuit was filed the same day the California Coastal Commission issued a second cease-and-desist order and reiterated that the company needs to apply for a coastal development permit.
Sable restarted work on its pipelines last week, along the coast and the seafloor, after the previous cease-and-desist order expired.
“I have concluded that Sable has yet to apply for any CDP, or other valid Coastal Act authorization, covering the work at issue, nor has Sable demonstrated that it possesses the necessary Coastal Act authorization for this work,” Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge wrote in Tuesday’s order.
She also “determined Santa Barbara County has declined to act in a timely manner regarding the coastal act violations as detailed in the (executive director cease-and-desist order), and this failure to act will cause damage to coastal resources.”
The agency can impose fines if the company does not comply with the order.
Steve Rusch, Sable’s vice president of environmental and regulatory affairs, referred Noozhawk to the company’s lawsuit and SEC filings for comment on the new order.
“Sable pipeline repair operations remain unaffected” after Tuesday’s executive order, the company said in a SEC filing Wednesday.
“Sable intends to proceed with the anomaly repair work authorized by the county in its Feb. 12 letter,” the company told the Coastal Commission in a letter this week.
County Hearing Next Week
The Environmental Defense Center has staff monitoring the pipeline work along the Gaviota Coast, attorney Jeremy Frankel said.
“This is not typical behavior, especially from a responsible company,” he said.
“We’re just really alarmed and concerned by this. Not just the immediate impacts on coastal resources and work in sensitive habitats, but how this shows we can expect Sable to operate as an oil and gas company here.”
Sable is ignoring notices of violation and “lacking care and diligence to operate really risky facilities,” Frankel said.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meets next week to vote on transferring local permits from ExxonMobil to Sable. The county previously approved permit transfers from Plains All American Pipeline to Exxon, which purchased the pipelines in 2022.
The EDC, plans a rally before the 9 a.m. meeting at the County Administration Building, at 105 E. Anapamu St., to protest the oil production restart.
Restart Plans
Sable Offshore Corp. and Exxon subsidiary Pacific Pipeline Company plan to restart Santa Ynez Unit oil production, and are pursuing approvals from multiple agencies.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) granted waivers in December and is reviewing pipeline restart plans.
Federal pipeline safety officials don’t object to the “granting of state waivers of certain regulatory requirements related to cathodic protection and seam weld corrosion for the pipeline,” according to the PHMSA letter included in Sable’s recent SEC filings.
The pipelines stretch from Gaviota to Sisquoc in the North County, and to Kern County’s Pentland, carrying oil to refineries.
Investigators determined ineffective cathodic protection and pipeline corrosion caused the Refugio Oil Spill. Former owner Plains All American Pipeline was found criminally and civilly liable.
