How much should the public be allowed to know about safety issues involving the pipeline which ruptured on the Santa Barbara Coastline in 2015, causing a massive spill?
The company which now owns the pipeline has filed a lawsuit against a Santa Barbara environmental group, and the state seeking to prevent the release of some information.
The Environmental Defense Center has been fighting efforts to restart the pipeline. As part of that effort, it filed a public records request seeking more information about the state of the pipeline, and potential issues if it restarted.
But, Sable Offshore Corporation is seeking to block the records request. It contends making it public would compromise the pipeline’s security, and reveal some trade secrets. Sable wants to repair and reopen the pipeline, which would clear the way for three idle offshore oil platforms to resume operations.
In a response to the suit, the EDC argued that the public has an urgent need to know the potential danger of restarting the pipeline. It notes that Sable has been trying to expedite the reopening of the pipeline.
About 140,000 gallons of crude oil spill during the 2015 pipeline rupture at Refugio State Beach, fouling miles of the Santa Barbara County coastline.
The pipeline was owned by a different company at the time of the accident, Plains All-American Pipeline.
