California says offshore oil drilling company cut corners in restart
Hilel Aron
(CN) — California accused an offshore oil drilling company of repeatedly discharging waste into inland waters near Santa Barbara without a permit in its rush to bring its drilling operations back online.
In a complaint filed Friday night in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on behalf of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, state Attorney General Rob Bonta accuses Sable Offshore Corp. of purposely not applying for permits to discharge waste — mostly dirt and vegetation into waterways, discharge that “could affect water quality in the rich aquatic and riparian habitat of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.”
“By avoiding the imposition of waste discharge requirements and associated regulatory oversight of its activities until after the work was completed, Sable placed profits over environmental protection in its rush to get oil on the market,” Bonta says in the complaint.
A spokesperson for Sable did not respond to an email requesting comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is just the latest emanating from the controversial resumption of oil drilling operations off the coast of Santa Barbara. Known as the Santa Ynez Unit, the project comprises three platforms — Hondo, Harmony and Heritage — as well as an onshore processing facility at Las Flores Canyon. In 2015, a section of one of the pipelines connecting the facilities, which had become corroded, failed, bursting open and sending 142,800 gallons of crude into the Pacific Ocean. The massive spill killed hundreds of birds and marine mammals and led to criminal charges being filed against Plains All American Pipeline, which owned the pipeline at the time.
Plains was forced to pay a stiff fine and sold the pipeline to ExxonMobil in 2022, which then sold it to Sable in 2024. Sable finally resumed drilling operations in May, but not before suing the California Coastal Commission, which had attempted to block the restart.
An environmental group has sued the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, challenging the agency’s renewal of offshore drilling leases. And last month, Santa Barbara’s district attorney filed criminal charges against Sable Offshore Corp. for environmental violations, including five felony counts that the company “knowingly discharging dredged or fill material into waters of the United States.”
Bonta, in the lawsuit seeking civil penalties, takes aim at the same alleged violations.
Under the terms of a federal consent decree, Sable had to retrofit two pipelines running from a pumping station on the beach to another station 40 miles inland by installing safety check valves and make repairs to 144 anomalies. To do so, it had to perform a “pig and dig” operation, which involved excavating certain sections of the line, which meant clearing roads and vegetation. Some of these repair sites were within stream beds and channels designated as “Waters of the State” and “Waters of the United States.” Because of that, Sable had to get permits for the excavation.
Sable, Bonta says in the complaint, “knew waste discharge requirements were necessary for excavation activity that could affect water quality but chose to ignore Sable’s obligation to obtain them” at 14 different sites.
“No corporation should gain a business advantage by ignoring the law and harming the environment,” said Jane Gray, chair of the Central Coast Water Board, in a written statement. “Entities that discharge waste are required to obtain permits from the state to protect water quality. Sable Offshore Corp. is no different. It, however, chose to ignore state environmental regulation.”