Multiple lawsuits aim to halt oil pipeline off California coast
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State agencies and environmental groups are suing to halt production of oil produced on three oil rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara.
The pipelines have been idle since 2015, when corrosion caused a huge oil spill, killing thousands of marine animals and sea birds. In March, the Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act to facilitate the restart of oil flow, saying it's necessary to boost domestic oil production in light of the Iran war.
Talia Nimmer, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said we cannot risk another disaster.
"This pipeline actually still suffers from those corrosion issues," Nimmer pointed out. "Restarting these pipelines, especially absent all necessary approvals, significantly puts our wildlife, our residents, and our coast in jeopardy."
On May 22, environmental groups will ask a Superior Court judge to order an immediate shutdown and force the oil company, Sable Offshore, to demonstrate why it should not be found in contempt of court. The same judge recently ruled Sable violated state law when it resumed pumping oil.
The state of California is also suing the Trump administration, arguing the White House should not be able to override state environmental law and settled court cases. They warned if the order stands, the federal government could ignore any number of environmental protections nationwide.
Bill Hickman, Central California senior regional manager for the Surfrider Foundation, said President Donald Trump has proposed opening huge areas of previously protected federal waters off California to new oil and gas drilling, sparking fierce local opposition.
"That's why new offshore oil drilling hasn't been proposed in the previous five-year lease plans from the federal government," Hickman stressed. "Because Californians don't want it off of our coast, and we want to transition to clean and renewable energy."
Recently, the Trump administration approved a new oil drilling site in the Gulf of Mexico and gave oil and gas operations there a waiver from Endangered Species Act protections. This same region suffered the worst oil spill in U.S. history when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in 2010.
