“Is This a Company We Can Trust?” Environmental Defense Center Blasts Sable Offshore’s Newest Proposal
Mina Wahab
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) — Environmental Defense Center Executive Director Alex Katz says Sable Offshore is fighting an uphill battle.
“Coming a week after they were charged with 21 crimes by the District Attorney, including five felonies, and after a couple of losses in court and in litigation, it doesn’t look good,” said Katz. The company is preparing an alternative way to transport crude oil without further state approvals. Instead of using the onshore pipeline, it will use a floating vessel to process and transport oil. “Whether it is restarting this equipment onshore that already failed once or trying to do something out in the channel, we have to ask, ’Is this a company we can trust to operate safely or responsibly or even legally in California?’” said Katz. Despite multiple cease and desist orders and criminal charges from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office, Sable maintains it has completed all necessary repair and upgrades to restart the pipeline that ruptured back in 2015. The company says switching to a floating vessel, a method that was used for several years prior to the onshore pipeline, will likely cost $100 million dollars, and delay oil sales until the final months of 2026. The Environmental Defense Center says this method would create a huge risk for an offshore spill. They also say that the air pollution will come on shore. “That will impact us. All that air pollution from the platforms and the processing plants and the barges comes onshore. And that may be another obstacle for them, because under the federal Clean Air Act, they have to comply with our Santa Barbara County air rules, which are very strict,” said Environmental Defense Center Attorney Linda Krop.
Sable Offshore is asking the Trump administration to fast-track approval for an offshore vessel, saying its plans align with president Trump’s goal of producing more oil in the United States. Krop says companies typically submit a formal application, but Sable doesn’t appear to have done that. “The only thing that Sable attached to their Securities Exchange Commission filing was a three sentence letter to the Chair of an advisory council that has no authority, saying, ‘We would like your support.’ Support for what? They don’t even have an application pending. So I don’t know if this is a distraction. I don’t know if it’s a threat,” said Krop.
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