Sable Offshore, a Houston-based upstream company, gained approval from the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission on Oct. 30 to restart the same pipeline that caused the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
Students and local organizations protested fracking after the 2015 Refugio oil spill. Nexus file photo
According to the Environmental Defense Center (EDC), a legal nonprofit organization that is appealing the decision, restarting the pipeline could double Santa Barbara County’s (SBC) greenhouse gas emissions and worsen air quality. Sable Offshore did not respond to requests for comment from the Nexus.
The commission voted 3-1 to transfer the ownership and permits of Pipelines CA-324, CA-325A and CA 325B, collectively known as the Santa Ynez Unit, from natural gas company Exxon Mobil to Sable. The unit runs 122 miles from the Gaviota Coast in SBC to the Pentland Delivery Point in Kern County.
On Nov. 7, the EDC filed an appeal against SBC Planning Commission’s decision, stating that the decision wasn’t supported by sufficient evidence. According to the appeal letter, the Planning Commission “misconstrued the purpose of Chapter 25B of the County Code and the scope of its review” by not making the “necessary findings” to approve the transfer. Chapter 25B deals with petroleum codes for the county.
EDC Staff Attorney Jeremy Frankel said that the Santa Ynez Unit was responsible for roughly half of SBC’s greenhouse gas emissions when it was operational from 1993 to 2015. The 2014 California Air Resources Board pollution map lists the Exxon Mobil Las Flores Canyon (LFC) and Pacific Offshore Pipeline Company (POPCO) facilities as major county polluters during that year.
“The idea for EDC is to prevent the restart of these really dangerous facilities that would set us back on our climate goals. But for us here on the coast, you know, [restarting the pipeline] could very well lead to another catastrophic spill. And of course, the implications of the spill are enormous,” Frankel said.
According to an Environmental Impact Report draft by SBC, restarting the pipeline would likely result in a spill every two years, along with a major rupture every six years due to corrosion on the pipeline.
For the pipeline to restart, Sable would have to receive county permits for the onshore processing facilities and the pipeline, a waiver from the State Fire Marshal which is also underway, permits for repair work on the pipeline’s valves from the California Coastal Commission and a decommissioning bond posted to the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), according to Frankel.
Pipeline CA-324 — which had been corroding since its construction in the 1980s — ruptured near Refugio Beach in May of 2015 under Plains All American Pipeline ownership. Despite the initial U.S. Department of Transportation Failure Investigation Report stating that roughly 123,000 gallons of oil were spilled during the 2015 incident, a UC Santa Barbara report found it was closer to 451,000 gallons. The pipeline was closed after the spill.
“[The pipelines] are really at the end of their useful lives. They were projected to be operational for about 30 years back in the 80s. Now [the pipeline] is going on 40 years,” Frankel said.
According to Frankel, restarting the pipeline would make it more difficult for California to reach carbon neutrality by 2045 as outlined by Executive Order B-55-18 in 2018.
“There’s a clear goal to start phasing out oil and gas, essentially off the coast. So this will just be a setback to all those really important goals,” Frankel said.
The Nexus will continue to report on this topic as more information becomes available.
A version of this article appeared on p.4 of the Nov. 14, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
