Oil pipeline company sues California regulators in effort to restart line that caused 2015 spill

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (CN) — The owner and operator of the oil pipeline responsible for a devastating 2015 oil spill sued the California Coastal Commission in an effort to be allowed to repair and restart the line. Sable Offshore Corporation accuses the state agency of "unlawfully prevent[ing] repair and maintenance activities along portions of the pipelines."

On Tuesday, the Coastal Commission sent Sable a second cease and desist order directing the company to refrain from any repair work on the line.

"Sable’s continued work on the pipeline would be likely to contribute to environmental impacts that could have been avoided, including the destabilization of rain-soaked hillsides and habitat areas," the commission wrote. "Further, the history of this site has made it clear that the utmost caution, and safety, must be taken to avoid catastrophic damage to coastal resources such as those seen after the 2015 pipeline failure and resulting Refugio Oil Spill."

Sable's Tuesday lawsuit followed, seeking to push through approval of the pipeline's reopening.

The spill, caused by a corroded pipeline that burst, sent 142,800 gallons of crude oil streaming into the Pacific Ocean near Santa Barbara. Thick, black blobs of oil washed up along the coast for weeks afterward and hundreds of animals were coated in tar. The pipeline was closed, and a grand jury indicted the owner of the line in 2015, Plains All American Pipeline, on criminal charges.

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 has been trying to restart the pipeline ever since.

In December, Sable cleared its first hurdle when it obtained a waiver from the California fire marshal. But it has hit a brick wall with the Coastal Commission, which regulates and approves all development along the state's coast.

The commission's actions, Sable said in its complaint, were “procedurally improper” and stripped the company's right to "operate the Las Flores Pipelines and SYU Pipelines ... without prior compensation."

Besides, Sable said, the "repair and maintenance activities" fall within an environmental review that's already been approved — a fact confirmed to Sable by Santa Barbara County.

Environmental groups decried the lawsuit.

"I'm disgusted that Sable Offshore would sue rather than listen to the Coastal Commission and pause construction along the pipeline and protect the environment," Brady Bradshaw, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement. “I’m worried this oil company is rushing construction to restart a pipeline that shouldn't get a second chance to spill, and it doesn’t seem to care what state agencies have to say about the serious risks."

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