The California Coastal Commission notified Sable Oil that it intends to issue a cease and desist order aimed at shutting down crude oil extraction in the Santa Barbara Channel.
In a Tuesday letter to the Houston-based company alleging violations of the state Coastal Act, commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge said the energy firm reactivated its Gaviota pipeline in March without the proper permission of a coastal development permit.
“These violations can be resolved amicably,” Huckelbridge wrote to Steve Rusch, Sable vice president of Regulatory & Environmental Affairs.
“However, if such a settlement is not possible, we will be forced to resolve this violation through the proposal of unilateral orders at a hearing,” the 16-page letter states. “As long as the violation persists, Sable’s exposure to the potential for the assessment of penalties for the Coastal Act violations continues to accrue.”
Santa Barbara environmentalists on Wednesday cheered the development.
“Once again, Sable is being put on notice that they are violating the law,” Linda Krop, chief counsel of the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center (EDC), said in a statement.
“Even after felony criminal charges, multiple attorney general lawsuits, and a historic fine from the Coastal Commission, Sable is now ignoring a new state law requiring a permit for the restart of defunct oil facilities, including the company’s failed pipeline,” Krop said.
“Any oil project operating outside of environmental and public safety laws puts our communities at risk of another disaster,” she said.
A hearing on the matter could potentially be held in August, Krop told the News-Press.
A Sable representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sable began pumping oil from Platform Harmony on March 14. It was the first time the Las Flores Pipeline System has been used since 2015, when a rupture caused a 142,000-gallon oil spill at Refugio State Beach, sending 21,000 gallons into the Pacific Ocean.
With the war in Iran a backdrop, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on March 13 directed Sable to restart delivery.
Wright said the oil is needed to strengthen national security and ensure West Coast military installations can maintain readiness.
When the pipeline burst at Refugio, thousands of birds and marine mammals died, and 138 square miles of fisheries shut down for weeks.
The spill resulted in more than $360 million in settlements paid by Plains All American Pipeline, the owner at the time of the spill.
Ever since, environmentalists and local residents have questioned whether the pipeline is fit for service. Sable maintains problem areas were fixed as of May.
In April, a Santa Barbara judge rejected a request by Sable to lift a preliminary injunction intended to prevent the firm from transporting oil from the Santa Barbara Channel to Central California. The EDC is a party to that lawsuit.
Following that ruling, the case was moved to federal court.
