Santa Barbara County Superior Court has approved a temporary restraining order blocking efforts to restart the Refugio Oil Spill pipeline.
Earlier this year, the Environmental Defense Center sued the State Fire Marshal for approving Sable Offshore’s plans to reopen the Los Flores Pipeline System without an environmental review.
This week, a judge approved the order, which prohibits any attempts to bring the pipeline system back online until a July 18 hearing. The system was shut down 10 years ago after one of its pipelines ruptured, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean.
Jeremy Frankel, a staff attorney for the Environmental Defense Center, said the lawsuit is about preventing that from ever happening again.
“We were able to get a temporary restraining order, to ensure that our community– our beaches, our water supply sources– are all safe until this pipeline does undergo the proper review that's necessary,” Frankel said.
In a statement to KCBX, Sable said the County Court’s decision should not impede preparations to restart the pipeline.
“Restart of the Las Flores Pipeline System is governed by a federal consent decree, approved by a federal judge and agreed to by the United States of America and 10 other federal and state agencies,” Sable’s Vice President of Environmental and Governmental Affairs Steve Rusch said.
“Sable is in full compliance with that consent decree and will seek to protect our rights
and enforce the legal process,” Rusch added.
At the July hearing, a court approval could keep the restraining order in place until the Environmental Defense Center’s lawsuit against the Fire Marshal is resolved– a process that could take months.
