There’s outrage in the environmental community over word that a company has withdrawn plans to build a new oil pipeline in Santa Barbara County, and will instead try to rebuild one which caused a major spill in 2015.
A section of the Plains All-American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in 2015, spilling more than 140,000 gallons of oil onto the coastline.
The pipeline has been closed since, idling three ExxonMobil oil platforms off the county’s coast. Plains filed for permits to build a new pipeline. The company then sold the system to a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. Now, that subsidiary has announced withdrawal of the new pipeline application, with the apparent intent of repairing the damaged one.
In a letter to the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department, Pacific Pipeline Company officials say the environmental impacts of building a new pipeline are unnecessary and avoidable. They say the existing line could be responsibly restarted.
The letter also notes that there is a high degree of what they call "local permitting and business uncertainty," which is an apparent reference to local efforts to stop the movement of oil.
The county rejected efforts by ExxonMobil to move oil by tanker trucks until a pipeline system could be reopened.
Attorneys with Santa Barbara’s Environmental Defense center say the ideal move is to shut down all operations. But, they say if the platforms do resume operations, there should be a new pipeline. They say trying to fix the damaged one is a formula for disaster.
