The State Parks Department filed a lawsuit against the company that restarted the pipeline, which ruptured in Santa Barbara County in 2015. They charge that the company is guilty of trespassing.
Sable Offshore Corporation began pumping oil through it last weekend for the first time in more than a decade. The federal government used a 1950s-era law to say that its operation was essential because of a national emergency.
Federal officials contend the law allows the project to bypass local and state regulations.
The State Parks Department filed suit against Sable, charging that the company is trespassing. It contends that the company is pumping oil through a four-mile segment of the pipeline in Gaviota State Park without a permit for an easement.
The company that built the pipeline was granted a 30-year permit for the easement in 1986. It expired in 2016. The lawsuit notes the company has been granted access to maintain the pipeline, but it never obtained a new easement permit.
The suit concludes that oil being pumped through the pipeline constitutes trespassing. It asks a judge to order an immediate halt to the pipeline’s operation. Last week, Sable reported it filed suit against the state parks department, contending the federal order gives it the right to use the pipeline through the park.
The 2015 accident spilled 140,000 gallons of oil on the Gaviota Coast and into the ocean.
Sable contends it has repaired the pipeline and made safety upgrades well beyond what's legally required.
Environmental groups and some state officials argue that restarting the decades-old facilities sets the state up for another major disaster. They say Sable has failed to get a number of proper permits for the pipeline's operation.
