Environmentalists prepare appeal of pipeline ownership change
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – Days after the May 2015 Refugio oil spill, then California Attorney General Kamala Harris visited the spill and said she would work with Santa Barbara County to hold responsible parties accountable.
Harris worked with District Attorney, Joyce Dudley, and others before becoming a U.S. Senator, then Vice President, and now Presidential Candidate.
In 2015, Plains All American owned the corroded pipeline and took charge of cleaning up the shoreline covered with crude.
That pipeline is now at the center of a change in ownership controversy.
The change to Sable was approved by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission by a 3-to-1 vote last month.
John Parke voted no.
The Planning Department's Deputy Director of Energy, Minerals and Compliance Erin Briggs explained the nuances of the ownership changes.
"The Santa Ynez Unit is generally referred to as the 3 offshore platforms off of the Gaviota Coast and their related onshore processing facility, which is located in Las Flores Canyon," said Briggs, "and then historically the pipeline that ruptured in 2015 was a separately owned and operated asset which most recently was acquired by Exxon Mobil and now Sable."
Sable's Vice President of Environmental and Governmental Affairs, Steve Rusch, used to work for Exxon and helped start up the project.
He said it felt like a deja vu moment.
"The pipeline will be as new after we finish repairing it and we hydro test it, we pressure it up so we know it doesn't leak and one comment I wanted to make is that this crude when it is flowing represents 15-20 percent of California production," said Rusch.
The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) representing a coalition that includes Get Oil Out and Santa Barbara County Action Network plans to appeal the decision to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors this week.
EDC Chief Council, Linda Krop, said Sable would need hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the next spill.
"We know Plains spent at least $750 million on the 2015 spill, Sable has nothing close to that," said Krop.
She said the appeal will correct misinformation presented before the Planning Commission vote.
"We will show the board that Sable does not have the money to operate this pipeline, they don't have the money to respond to the oil spill, their own investor filings say that, we quoted from their own filings," said Krop.
Sable is a publicly traded company that could raise funds.
The appeal deadline is Friday.
