More than 30 people gathered outside Goleta City Hall on Thursday to oppose a possible restart of offshore oil drilling in Santa Barbara County.
"I hope they'll protect our coastline and not allow Sable to get away with what Exxon tried to," said Ann Shaw, rally supporter.
Rallygoers want oil out of Santa Barbara County waters, citing the Refugio Oil Spill in 2015 that sent 143,000 gallons of oil into the sea, costing more than $92 million to clean up, according to Plains All American Pipeline, the company responsible for the spill.
"We cannot afford to even take a remote chance of that repeating that scenario," said Carlya Frisk, public speaker.
If the State Lands Commission approves the restart of four lease agreements held by Sable Offshore Corp., it also re-starts onshore oil and natural gas processing.
"And that would include Sable's corroded onshore pipelines and more specifically, the failed pipeline that ruptured in 2015," claimed Jeremy Frankle, Environmental Defense Center lawyer.
Public commenters said the aging infrastructure of the Santa Ynez pipeline built in the 1970s is a danger.
"If Sable is allowed to restart this pipeline, it’s not a question of will it fail, it's a question of when," said Ryan Smith.
A point underlined by Sable documents that was revealed in a recent court case, according to Frankle.
"Per Sable’s estimate, a worst-case spill from these pipelines could be 14 times the volume of the Refugio spill. And that, we believe, is a highly conservative estimate," Frankle said.
Renewing the leases is a decision State Lands Commission Chair Malia Cohen doesn’t take lightly.
"What I'm looking for is a transparent, honest, open, honest process. I'm looking for people to come to the table with, with their ideas and be prepared to roll up their sleeves to do the work," Cohen said.
No one in favor of offshore drilling attended the rally. KSBY News reporter Juliet Lemar reached out to Sable Offshore Corp. but had not heard back at the time of this reporting.
