The company planning the controversial reopening of an oil pipeline that ruptured in 2015, causing a massive spill in Santa Barbara County, reports that it’s been fully repaired.
It’s the latest news in the years-long battle over efforts to repair the pipeline and restart three oil platforms off the Santa Barbara County coastline.
In May 2015, the Plains All American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach, spilling 140,000 gallons of oil.
Sable Offshore Corporation bought the damaged pipeline and offshore platforms.
Environmentalists and the State Coastal Commission contended that Sable’s repair and restart plans needed more review. Sable argued that existing permits allowed the repair to proceed.
Legal efforts to stop the work failed.
On May 15, Sable resumed oil production with six wells on Platform Harmony. It plans to reactivate more than 100 wells on all three platforms by the end of the summer.
It’s currently moving oil to the onshore Las Flores storage facility.
However, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Sable said the pipeline has completed final repairs and safety testing. The company wants to resume using it to ship oil to refineries this summer.
In a separate filing, Sable reported raising $283 million through a stock sale.
Opponents say they will continue to fight the restart efforts, calling the aging oil facilities another disaster in the making.
