Sable Offshore files complaint against state regulator’s actions halting pipeline work
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – On Tuesday, Sable Offshore filed a complaint against the California Coastal Commission in Santa Barbara County Superior Court alleging that the statewide regulator's series of notices and orders stopping local construction work unlawfully prevented the Houston-based company's ability to complete necessary repairs and comply with federal law.
According to the complaint, Sable Offshore and its subsidiary, Pacific Pipeline Company, are required by federal law to schedule evaluation and remediation within 180 days for, "all anomalous condition in [any] pipeline".
On Feb. 12, 2025, the County of Santa Barbara's Planning and Development Department confirmed that four Zoning Clearance applications for anomaly repair work on pipelines 324 and 325a were authorized under existing permits in a letter to Sable Offshore despite actions halting work by the California Coastal Commission.
Pipeline 324, formerly known as Line 901, previously ruptured causing the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill, which impacted 150 miles of California coast, destroying thousands of acres of shoreline habitats.
The County of Santa Barbara stated in its letter to Sable Offshore that its confirmation of properly permitted pipeline work was not an exemption for future permitting requirements nor a decision on a Coastal Development Permit required by the California Coastal Commission, but it did state that no further actions were required by the County regarding construction work.
The image below shows a notice posted at the now-halted construction work along the Gaviota Coast.
On Sep. 27, 2024, the California Coastal Commission issued a Notice of Violation to Sable Offshore - a Houston-based company that purchased pipelines, offshore platforms, and the Las Flores Canyon production facility from ExxonMobil - for their work on pipelines without securing the proper permits.
The Coastal Commission does have the legal right to issue cease and desist orders, seek injunctive relief, and levy civil fines.
Sections 30821 and 30821.3 of the California Coastal Act allow the Coastal Commission's Executive Director to issue administrative penalties to non-compliant companies, up to $11,250 per day for each violation.
Sable Offshore argued in its Tuesday filing that, "The County’s confirmation is consistent with informal
non-discretionary assessments that it undertakes on a regular basis, is not appealable to the Coastal
Commission under the County’s Coastal Zoning Ordinance (“CZO”) or Coastal Act, and is therefore,
final."
Pipeline work being litigated this week was not limited to onshore construction along the Gaviota Coast.
According to the Coastal Commission's Executive Director Cease and Desist Order issued on Tuesday, Sable Offshore deployed a remotely operated vehicle to, "place concrete bags and pallets along more than 750 linear feet of the pipelines to create support piers along 14 identified spans of between 41 and 70 feet...from November 29, 2024, to December 1, 2024."
In response, Sable Offshore noted in its filing Tuesday that its span remediation maintenance-a technique to shore up unsupported lengths of underwater pipelines-did not require approval from the state-based regulator and was already authorized under a Development and Production Plan approved by the U.S. Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service.
"The Coastal Commission’s issuance of the NOVs [Notice of Violation] and EDCDO [Executive Director Cease and Desist Order] prohibits Plaintiffs’ [Sable Offshore] compliance with federal law requiring Plaintiffs to promptly make anomaly repairs and conduct span remediation maintenance activities at the Pipelines as necessary to protect human health and the environment without prior compensation in violation of Article I, Section 19 of the California Constitution and the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, as incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment," stated Tuesday's complaint.
"Sable Offshore is working with all agencies including the California Coastal Commission to ensure all of our work is in compliance with our existing permits and federal and state statutes," stated Steve Rusch, Vice President of Environmental & Regulatory Affairs at Sable Offshore. "As you can imagine with as important a project as SYU, one that will provide a stabilizing supply of low carbon intensity crude oil into the CA market (10-20% of instate production), we are getting a lot of attention. We look forward to being an important part of the California energy solution and working through these issues which come with that increased scrutiny."
The image below, from an informational slide in an investor presentation by Sable Offshore courtesy of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, shows all of the assets purchased by the company from ExxonMobil collectively referred to the Santa Ynez Unit.
