On October 25, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, Pacific Pipeline Company (“PPC”), announced the withdrawal of its application to build a new pipeline allowing ExxonMobil to restart oil platforms offshore of Santa Barbara County.
PPC says they will now focus on restarting Plains Pipeline 901/903, which is the same corroded and compromised pipeline that ruptured in 2015, causing the massive Refugio Oil Spill, poisoning the local coastline, and devastating marine life.
According to PPC, restarting the pipeline would allow ExxonMobil to resume operations of its three 1980s platforms offshore, which shut down after the Refugio spill. It also would allow the company to restart its onshore Las Flores Canyon processing facility, which when operational was the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Santa Barbara County.
The Environmental Defense Center represents Get Oil Out!, SBCAN, and its own members in opposing the pipeline projects.
“At this stage of the climate crisis, building new oil infrastructure is reckless, to say the least,” said Maggie Hall, Deputy Chief Counsel at the Environmental Defense Center (“EDC”). “However, restarting a corroded and compromised pipeline that already caused one massive oil spill is even worse. There is no way for the pipeline owners to credibly claim it will be safe. If this pipeline is allowed to restart, it’s not a question of if, but when it will be responsible for another catastrophe.”
Extensive corrosion on Line 901/903 was the cause for the 2015 spill of more than 450,000 gallons of heavy crude on the Gaviota Coast and into the ocean.
Oil washed out into the sensitive environment of the Santa Barbara Channel, closing Refugio and El Capitan State Beaches, killing more than 300 marine mammals and seabirds, and spreading along 150 miles of the California coast. The federal government’s report confirmed that Plains was at fault for failure to adequately maintain, inspect, and operate the pipeline.
EDC and its partners also fought to stop a plan by ExxonMobil to truck millions of gallons of oil every week from its platforms through Santa Barbara County. Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California upheld Santa Barbara County’s denial [environmentaldefensecenter.org] of ExxonMobil’s trucking plan.
