Environmental Defense Center
EDC Statement Re: Plains Pipeline Replacement Project Withdrawal
On October 25, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, Pacific Pipeline Company (“PPC”), announced the withdrawal of its application to build a new pipeline allowing ExxonMobil to restart oil platforms offshore of Santa Barbara County. Instead, PPC will focus on restarting Plains Pipeline 901/903 – the same corroded and compromised pipeline that ruptured in 2015, causing the massive Refugio Oil Spill, poisoning the local coastline, and devastating marine life.
Restarting the pipeline would allow ExxonMobil to resume operations of its three 1980s platforms offshore, which shut down after the Refugio spill. It also would allow the company to restart its onshore Las Flores Canyon processing facility, which when operational was the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Santa Barbara County.
“At this stage of the climate crisis, building new oil infrastructure is reckless, to say the least,” said Maggie Hall, Deputy Chief Counsel at the Environmental Defense Center (“EDC”). “However, restarting a corroded and compromised pipeline that already caused one massive oil spill is even worse. There is no way for the pipeline owners to credibly claim it will be safe. If this pipeline is allowed to restart, it’s not a question of if, but when it will be responsible for another catastrophe.”
EDC represents Get Oil Out!, SBCAN, and its own members in opposing the pipeline projects.
Extensive corrosion on Line 901/903 was the cause for the 2015 spill of more than 450,000 gallons of heavy crude on the Gaviota Coast and into the ocean. Oil washed out into the sensitive environment of the Santa Barbara Channel, closing formerly pristine Refugio and El Capitan State Beaches, killing more than 300 marine mammals and seabirds, and spreading along 150 miles of the California coast. The federal government’s report confirmed that Plains was at fault for failure to adequately maintain, inspect, and operate the pipeline.
EDC and its partners also fought to stop a plan by ExxonMobil to truck millions of gallons of oil every week from its platforms through Santa Barbara County. Last month, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California upheld Santa Barbara County’s denial of ExxonMobil’s trucking plan.
The Environmental Defense Center, a non-profit law firm, protects and enhances the local environment through education, advocacy, and legal action and works primarily within Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties. Since 1977, EDC has empowered community-based organizations to advance environmental protection. EDC’s focus areas include protection of the Santa Barbara Channel, ensuring clean water, preserving open space and wildlife, and addressing climate and energy.
THANK YOU EDC for protecting our slice of paradise.
ms hall,
without oil you could not have gotten to work today
john
Environmental NIMBY’ism. They want it extracted, transported and processed in someone else’s backyard, in areas with fewer environmental controls than CA, then emit even more CO2 transporting it around the world so we can consume it here.
“They want it extracted, transported and processed in someone else’s backyard” – No “we” don’t. We don’t wanted it extracted, transported or processed ANYWHERE.
Pipelines don’t have to leak, platforms don’t have to explode, catch on fire, or burst pipes, and old drilling sites don’t have to leak for years after they were abandoned. . But it happens, and the rest of us would like to insure that the industry improves and is made to clean up their messes, including abandoned tank farms like the one next to UCSB’s Coal Oil Point Reserves. The argument that we can’t live without oil doesn’t mean we have to live with the filth they leave us to live with. Kudos to EDC for their continuing efforts to reign in a rogue industry.