When a corroded pipeline ruptured in 2015, black crude oil spread across the Southern California coast, making it the state’s worst oil spill in decades.
More than 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels) of oil were gushed, blackening 150 miles (240 kilometers) of coastline from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, contaminating biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing large numbers of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and crippling fisheries.
Plains All American Pipeline in 2022. $230 million Settled with fishermen and coastal property owners without admitting liability. Federal inspectors found the Houston-based company failed to detect the rupture quickly and acted too slowly. Construction of the new pipeline faced an uphill battle.
The 30-year-old drilling platform has since shut down, but another Texas-based fossil fuel company backed by the Trump administration is keen to buy the business and pump oil through the pipeline again.
Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. faces numerous legal challenges but is determined to resume production, even if only in federal waters, where state regulators have virtually no say. california management 3 miles (5 kilometers) closest to the coast. The platform is located 5 to 9 miles (8 to 14 kilometers) offshore.
The Trump administration has praised Sable’s plan as the kind of project the president would want. increase US energy production As the federal government removes regulatory barriers. President Donald Trump has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to reverse his predecessor’s policies. Ban on future offshore oil drilling on the east coast and west coast.
Environmental activists file lawsuit to stop project
“This project risks creating another environmental disaster in California at a time when oil demand is declining and the climate crisis is deepening,” said Alex Katz, executive director of the Environmental Defense Center, a Santa Barbara group founded in response to the 1969 spill.
Environmental groups are among those suing Sable.
“Our concern is that there is no way to make this pipeline safe and that this company has proven that it cannot be trusted to operate safely, responsibly or even legally,” he said.
actor and activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus “I smell a rat, and this project is a rat,” a man who lives in the area said at a protest in March, pleading with authorities to stop Sable.
The California Coastal Commission has fined Sable a record $18 million for ignoring a cease-and-desist order for repair work it said was done without a permit. Sable sued the commission while work on the pipeline continued, saying it had permission from former owner Exxon Mobil. In June, a state judge ordered the case to be halted while it progresses through court. The commission and Sable are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
“This night-flying oil company has repeatedly abused the public’s trust, amassed millions of dollars in fines, and caused environmental damage along the precious Gaviota coastline,” said commission spokesman Joshua Smith.
Sable continues to move forward
So far, Sable is undaunted.
The California Attorney General’s Office sued Sable this month, accusing it of illegally discharging waste into waterways and ignoring state laws requiring permits before working along pipeline routes that cross sensitive wildlife habitat.
“In its rush to bring oil to market, Sable prioritized profits over environmental protection,” the agency said in its lawsuit.
Last month, the Santa Barbara District Attorney charged Sable with a felony for polluting waterways and harming wildlife.
Sable said he is cooperating fully with local and state agencies, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and called the district attorney’s allegations “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” Biologists and the state fire marshal supervised the work and said no wildlife was harmed.
The company is seeking $347 million in damages for delays and says if the state prevents it from restarting its onshore pipeline system, it will use floating facilities to keep its entire operation within federal waters and tankers to transport oil to markets outside California. The company updated its plans to include this option in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
Fulfilling the President’s Energy Pledge
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced in July that it would work with Sable to bring a second rig into operation.
“President Trump has made clear that America’s energy must come from American resources,” the agency’s deputy director, Kenny Stevens, said in a statement at the time, heralding “a story of a resurgence of production in the Pacific region.”
The region has an estimated 190 million barrels (6 billion gallons) of recoverable oil reserves, nearly 80% of the Pacific Ocean’s remaining reserves, the agency said. Noting progress in oil spill prevention and preparedness, he said the damaged pipeline had been rigorously inspected.
“Continued monitoring and improved technology will greatly reduce the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future,” the agency said.
CEO says project could lower gas prices
On May 19, the 10th anniversary of the disaster, CEO Jim Flores announced that Sable was “proud to safely and responsibly achieve first production at our Santa Ynez unit.” The unit includes three rigs in federal waters, offshore and onshore pipelines, and the Las Flores Canyon processing facility.
State officials countered that the company only conducted testing and did not produce commercially. Sable’s stock price fell, and some investors filed suit for misleading the company.
Sable purchased the Santa Ynez operations from Exxon Mobil in 2024 for approximately $650 million, primarily through financing from Exxon. Exxon sold closed businesses After losing the legal battle In 2023, it is scheduled to transport crude oil through central California while the pipeline system is rebuilt or repaired.
Flores said tests on the Platform Harmony rig’s wells show there is plenty of oil to be extracted, and stable supply should ease California’s gas prices, some of the highest in the country.
“Mr. Sable is extremely concerned that California’s energy complex is collapsing,” Flores said in a statement to The Associated Press. “With two refineries retired last year and many more closing soon, California’s economy cannot survive without the strong energy infrastructure it has enjoyed for the past 150 years.”
California has long cut fossil fuel production in the state in favor of clean energy. The movement is being led in part by Santa Barbara County, where elected officials in May voted to begin phasing out onshore oil and gas operations.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.
