SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— California Attorney General Rob Bonta says the Trump administration illegally assumed oversight of two oil pipelines in the county—pipelines that have been dormant since the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.
“These onshore pipelines are located in California and California alone,” said Bonta in a press conference last Friday.
“This lawsuit will protect California's environmental regulations, which are critical to protecting our community from a future oil spill,” said Assemblymember Gregg Hart.
Sable Offshore has been trying to restart oil production with those pipelines for well over a year, now, but has faced multiple lawsuits along the way— at the local and state levels.
In December, the Trump administration determined the pipelines are "interstate" projects, asserted authority over the pipelines, and quickly granted emergency approvals for operation.
Many are now calling those actions illegal.
“These pipelines are clearly under state authority. They go from Santa Barbara to Kern County. They don't leave the state of California. The federal government is claiming that they are interstate pipelines. if it was up to the federal government, they would let Sable start this now, even though the state has told Sable very clearly that the repairs are not done on this pipeline,” said Environmental Defense Center Executive Director Alex Katz.
The Environmental Defense Center also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over this in December.
But this isn’t just an issue of jurisdiction. Environmental Defense Executive Director Alex Katz says there’s a much bigger problem.
“The state is telling Sable the repairs are not done. You still need to, fix the problems with this pipeline, and you can't restart it until you do, because it's not safe. And the federal government is ignoring that. And apparently it would allow Sable to start today if they could,” said Katz.
“The California fire marshal, has notified Sable that the wells that were done on the pipeline as part of the rehabilitation process were inadequate, and that is critical to making sure that the pipeline doesn't rupture again,” said Assembly member Hart.
Sable Offshore currently faces multiple lawsuits, 21 criminal charges for environmental violations, and an $18 million dollar fine from the California Coastal Commission.
A spokesperson for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration tells us, quote, “This pipeline was regulated for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, as an interstate pipeline. The Las Flores Pipeline was only redesignated as intrastate in 2016 when it was taken out of service. Based on the facts presented by sable in their letter to us last November, PHMSA agreed with the operator that returning the pipeline to our jurisdiction was appropriate."
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