Federal judge rules against Sable Offshore in lawsuit Exxon Mobile filed against Santa Barbara County

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— A federal judge ruled against Sable Offshore in its quest to restart the same pipeline that ruptured in the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.

The lawsuit in federal court concerns whether Santa Barbara County will transfer permits from Exxon to sable to operate the Santa Ynez unit.
That unit includes 3 offshore platforms, processing facilities and transportation pipelines.
 
Back in February impassioned community members spoke out against Sable Offshore in a public Board of Supervisors meeting.
 
The hours long meeting resulted in a split vote from the county Board of Supervisors, meaning that the permits would not be transferred from Exxon to Sable.
 
The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission had approved the permit transfer to Sable last October, But an appeal from environmental groups sent it to the supervisors.
 
In May, Exxon Mobile sued the county, saying it is illegally withholding the permits.
 
“As you know, this is a complicated case with a lot of different agencies and a lot of different approvals and now a lot of different lawsuits,” said Environmental Defense Center Executive Director Alex Katz.
 
Katz explained the stakes in this lawsuit, which the EDC is a party to.
 
“There has to be some way to hold them accountable. The law still matters in California. The law matters in Santa Barbara County. Our law says that the Board of Supervisors has to be able to ensure that these companies are able to operate responsibly. And in this case, Sable has demonstrated that it won't and it can’t.”
 
Sable and Exxon wanted the court to either reinstate the Santa Barbara Planning Commission’s approval or order Supervisors transfer the permits.
 
The judge rejected both options, and instead ordered the Board of Supervisors to hold another hearing in 60 days.

“the law in Santa Barbara County is very clear. It says it's up to the Board of Supervisors to ensure that any companies taking over oil and gas permits are financially capable and responsible enough to operate safely and very importantly, to clean up after a spill if there's a spill..“
 
If the county does approve the permit transfer, Sable still needs approval from multiple state agencies to restart operations.
 
We spoke with the Environmental Defense Center’s lead attorney Linda Krop about Friday’s decision.
 
She says this will give Sable a chance to respond to more questions from the Board of Supervisors.
 
And we're told supervisor Joan Hartmann — who had previously recused herself from voting due to the pipeline running through her property— can now vote in the matter.
 
We reached out to Sable for comment and are waiting to hear back.