California officials met in an emergency session this week after Sable Offshore Corp. restarted a long-shuttered oil pipeline, one that spilled thousands of barrels of crude oil along the Santa Barbara County coast more than a decade ago.
In May 2015, a corroded onshore pipeline, then owned by Plains All American, burst, spilling more than 123,000 gallons of crude oil near Refugio State Beach. Oil flowed through a culvert and into the ocean, killing birds and other wildlife, closing fisheries and spreading down the coast to Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
The pipeline had been shut down since. That is, until Sable announced March 16 that it had started pumping oil through pipelines that link its Santa Ynez offshore platform to refineries. The Houston-based company cited recent emergency orders from the Trump administration.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright directed Sable to start pipeline flows from Santa Ynez on Friday, using powers from an executive order that invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to supersede state laws. Sable officials said they complied and began shipping hydrocarbons over the weekend, with federal safety regulators present.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the Trump emergency orders reckless and illegal and said the oil from the Sable Offshore pipeline would have no impact on lowering global oil prices. On March 16, the State Lands Commission, which oversees Sable leases, met to discuss its next steps.
“Sable Offshore Corporation has chosen to violate various California laws, long-standing consent decree and numerous state regulatory action and ongoing litigation by resuming production,” said Matthew Dumlao, the commission’s executive officer.
He described the situation as “rapidly evolving,” saying the proposed action sought commissioners’ approval for staff to respond. That may include pursuing litigation and other actions such as terminating leases, he said.
Commissioners voted 2-0 for approval, with commission Chair Malia M. Cohen, also state controller, calling the federal action egregious.
“Today, what we’re doing here is we are putting the federal government and any entities that use state lands on notice we have jurisdiction over public trust lands and tide lands in California, and any attempt to circumvent our jurisdiction will be challenged,” Cohen said, during the emergency hearing.
Reeve Woolpert holds an oil-covered pelican he rescued from an oil sludge in the ocean near Refugio State Beach on May 20, 2015.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, also a commissioner, described the agency’s purpose to review requests for leases under its jurisdiction, including those for pipelines used by offshore drilling. Leases are reviewed by in-house experts to ensure they meet standards that help avoid catastrophic oil spills, she said.
Before the vote, several representatives from environmental groups spoke in support of the move. Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the nonprofit organization was concerned about the restart with what she described as the limited effectiveness of their corrosion controls.
“We feel that this restart poses unreasonable risks to the community and the environment,” she said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: California officials respond to restart of long-shuttered oil pipeline