Message from EDC:

Please RSVP today to join EDC, our clients, and our partners on Thursday, March 13th to demand that state agencies step up to protect our coast and our communities from another disastrous oil spill. Sable Offshore Corp., a new Texas oil company, is trying to restart the same defective pipeline that burst 10 years ago and caused the massive Refugio spill – one of the worst oil spills in California history. On Thursday, eight state agencies with different levels of regulatory authority over the restart will be present to answer questions submitted in advance by the community.

Thank you to Assemblymember Gregg Hart and Senator Monique Limón for organizing this meeting as a critical opportunity to hear directly from state officials about this project. California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, who oversees the agencies, will moderate the meeting.

We need these state agencies to enforce the law, conduct environmental review and a formal public process, and protect our communities on the Central Coast from another disaster.

Our voices can make a difference!  Last week, hundreds of people rallied at a Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors hearing and spoke against the transfer of permits from ExxonMobil to Sable. Now we have an opportunity to speak directly to state decision makers with authority over the pipeline restart.

So far this project has been moving forward with zero environmental review or public input. While this meeting is not an official hearing, we can show our community’s strong opposition to the restart of this failed pipeline and other equipment formerly owned by Exxon, including three aging offshore drilling platforms and two huge onshore oil and gas processing facilities.

When this heavily corroded pipeline broke 10 years ago, oil spread 150 miles along the coast, poisoning habitats, killing untold numbers of animals, and closing businesses, fisheries, beaches, and state parks.

Sable has been rushing to complete repairs and has ignored at least a dozen Notices of Violation and Stop Work orders from the Coastal Commission and other agencies. This behavior should be disqualifying for any company. It’s time for the agencies to hold Sable accountable, enforce the law, and take action to protect the California coast.

Linda Krop, Chief Counsel
Alex Katz, Executive Director