The Goleta City Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Feb. 4 opposing Sable Offshore restarting the Las Flores Pipeline responsible for the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill. The resolution has no legal ramifications but aligns with opposition from several local organizations.
Goleta City Council passed a resolution opposing Sable Offshore’s pipeline restart. Nexus File Photo
The resolution precedes the upcoming Feb. 25 Santa Barbara County (SBC) Board of Supervisors vote to allow the pipeline’s ownership transfer from oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil, who have managed the pipeline since 2022, to Sable Offshore, a new oil company.
Last October, the SBC Planning Commission approved the transfer by a 3-1 vote. Local legal nonprofits, the Environmental Defense Center and the Center for Biological Diversity, appealed the decision. Now, the SBC Board of Supervisors will make the final decision on the ownership permits.
Sable was founded in 2020 to assess the potential acquisition of the Santa Ynez Unit — the offshore platforms to extract oil and the onshore processing plants that receive oil from Las Flores.
“We don’t always go looking to wade into the matters that are decided by other jurisdictions,” City of Goleta District 2 Councilmember James Kyriaco said during the City Council meeting. “But there comes a time and there comes a moment where you have to stand up for your community and stand up for your constituents. I think this is one of those times.”
District 1 Councilmember Luz Reyes-Martín authored the resolution. Local organizations such as the Santa Barbara-Ventura chapter of the grassroots environmental organization Sierra Club, student-led group UC Santa Barbara Stop Sable, Environmental Defense Center (EDC) and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) also publicly opposed restarting the pipeline.
“The City of Goleta opposes re-commissioning the oil transport pipeline by Sable Offshore Corporation,” the resolution reads. “[The City] calls upon the County Board of Supervisors to uphold its long-standing template of opposition to the transport of oil product by truck or the Gaviota Coast pipeline.”
In 2015, the Las Flores Pipeline system ruptured near Refugio Beach, spilling over 450,000 gallons of oil — one of the largest in California history since the 1969 spill in the Santa Barbara Channel.
According to a 2024 Environmental Impact Report draft by SBC, restarting the pipeline would likely result in an oil spill every two years due to ruptures, along with a major rupture every six years due to corrosion on the pipeline.
“Santa Barbara County is the birthplace of the modern environmental movement and sustainability and climate action is core to who we are,” District Representative and Communications Director for Supervisor Laura Capps, Eleanor Gartner, said in an email statement to the Nexus. “Supervisor Capps has consistently demonstrated a dedication to these principles, having voted against proposals to restart this pipeline during prior Board of Supervisors hearings.”
The permit transfer is only one of the requirements for restarting the pipeline. Other prerequisites include a waiver from the California State Fire Marshal, which was granted in December, permits for repair work on the pipeline’s valves from the California Coastal Commission and a bond posted to the California Geologic Energy Management Division that ensures the pipeline is removed and that the land is restored if it is no longer in use.
The United States Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has until Feb. 15 to object or approve the California State Fire Marshal waiver, and the Coastal Commission is still estimating the decommissioning bond.
Sable Offshore, Kyriaco and Reyes-Martín did not respond to requests for comment.
The Nexus will continue to report on this topic as more information becomes available.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Feb. 13, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
