View of a Kingfisher project drilling rig next to Lake Albert. ©Mathieu Ajar
“We’re sorry this accident has happened and we’re sorry for the inconvenience to the community.” — Darren Palmer, District Manager for Plains All American, May 20, 2015
“The idea of this decrepit pipeline that failed so miserably and catastrophically a decade ago, the idea of that restarting is an impossible thing to contemplate, and it really has to be fought.” — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Advocate and Santa Barbara Resident, June 22, 2025
“When the very same pipeline burst in 2015…[b]eaches were closed and coated with oil. Fisheries shut down and fishers lost millions in economic productivity. Birds, sea lions, and dolphins washed up dead on the shore. It was nothing short of an environmental catastrophe.” — Paasha Mahdavi, Professor at UC Santa Barbara, April 25, 2025
The 2015 Plains pipeline disaster at Refugio State Beach spilled over 100,000 gallons of oil, creating a 10-square-mile oil slick and requiring a cleanup operation that would stretch for months and cost tens of millions of dollars. Now, Sable Offshore Corp., a new, speculative company, is pushing to restart the same corroded, aging, and highly risky pipeline that ruptured ten years ago, along with three offshore platforms and two onshore processing facilities—without any environmental or public review. Governor Gavin Newsom and the relevant State of California agencies should ensure that this restart does not happen.
The Plains oil spill was one of the worst oil disasters in California’s history. The spill triggered memories of the infamous 1969 Union Oil spill off Santa Barbara’s coast, which was so disastrous and shocking that it led to the passage of numerous laws that form the backbone of environmental law in California and the United States, and even played a key role in creating the national environmental movement.
When authorities determined that the cause of the 2015 Plains spill was pervasive corrosion, no one thought this pipeline would ever be used again. Plains applied to build a new pipeline, but sold the operation to Exxon in 2022, which in turn sold it to Sable in 2024. Exxon and Sable scrapped the plan to build a new pipeline. The sale was financed almost entirely by a loan from Exxon. Despite demands from multiple state agencies to apply for permits, Sable has refused to do so. In response, the California Coastal Commission imposed a record $18 million fine.
The 2015 spill triggered memories of the 1969 Union Oil spill, during which cleanup workers and volunteers used hay and straw to soak up the oil. Photo credits: Environmental Defense Center
In the decade since the Plains oil spill, the climate crisis has only deepened, with warming oceans, more frequent extreme weather events, and increased ecosystem fragility. The likelihood of another disaster and the need to keep as much oil in the ground as possible heighten the stakes.
The solution is simple. Governor Newsom, who has positioned himself as a protector of the environment, an opponent of offshore oil drilling, and a climate change campaigner, should step up and ensure that this outdated and dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure remains offline. Unless and until he does so, the state should enforce all environmental laws, including a requirement for full environmental review and a public process that ensures communities, scientists, and regulators are included in the decision-making. Thus far, the state has not conducted any environmental review or provided for any formal public input or hearings on Sable’s restart proposal.
In May 2015, a Plains All American pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County along California’s central coast, spilling over 100,000 gallons of crude oil. The impacts of the 2015 oil spill were immediate and devastating:
The ecological toll was staggering. One hundred fifty miles of coastline were affected, with significant stretches of shoreline coated in tar and oil. Recreational beaches, nesting grounds, and underwater forests were exposed to dangerous hydrocarbons. Field assessments conducted after the Plains spill confirmed the lasting reach of oil beneath the waves. Scientific teams detected oil compounds at multiple depths, demonstrating that subtidal zones were not only exposed but contaminated persistently following the spill. And in some places, these impacts are still being felt to this day.
The 2015 Refugio oil spill saw 100,000 gallons of oil affecting one hundred fifty miles of coastline. Photo credits (left to right): Zackmann08 (CC BY-SA 3.0) and U.S. Coast Guard
The human and economic impacts were no less severe. Both commercial and recreational fisheries were closed for weeks. Charter boats sat idle. Beach tourism, a major revenue stream for Santa Barbara County, plummeted. The disruption of tourism and outdoor recreation was quantifiable: trustee agencies estimate over 140,000 lost “recreational user-days,” representing $3.9 million in economic value lost. The overall economic fallout topped a quarter of a billion dollars, factoring in cleanup, natural resource damages, and civil penalties.
Federal prosecutors ultimately filed criminal charges against Plains All American for its role in the disaster. The company was found guilty on multiple counts, including failing to properly maintain its pipeline and failing to report the spill in a timely manner. A state judge later imposed a $3.3 million fine, stating it was the biggest fine that the law allowed.
Together these damages highlight the scale of harm that even a single pipeline failure can inflict and a stark reminder of the costs that people and the environment bear when oversight of the fossil fuel industry fails.
In 2022, Plains All America sold the pipeline to Exxon, which in turn sold it to Sable Offshore Corp. Now, Sable is seeking to revive the Las Flores pipeline infrastructure—the same pipeline system that caused the 2015 Plains disaster.
This effort quickly ran into serious legal and regulatory hurdles. Rather than undergoing a transparent, permitted process, Sable proceeded with extensive repairs to the pipeline in the coastal zone without obtaining necessary permits or submitting to environmental review or public input as required by law. Sable claims that it can restart the pipeline by conducting so-called “anomaly repairs.” Anomaly is an umbrella term in the oil industry for weaknesses in a pipeline, and it includes issues such as corrosion, leakage, or rust. Testing following the 2015 Plains spill identified 164 anomalies on the Las Flores pipeline. An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Security Administration found two anomalies with greater than 80% metal loss, 12 anomalies with 60-79% metal loss, and 80 anomalies with 40-59% metal loss.
In response to Sable’s illegal work on the pipeline, the California Coastal Commission issued several Notices of Violation and Cease and Desist Orders. Sable’s continued violations resulted in a record $18 million fine from the Commission. Sable has continued to assert that permits dating back to 1987 provide sufficient legal authority for the work—an argument flatly rejected by the Commission, which emphasizes that such claims are inconsistent with California’s Coastal Act and years of permitting precedent. The Commission obtained an injunction based on this unpermitted work, which prohibits Sable from conducting any further repairs or other work on the pipelines until the litigation is resolved. Trial is scheduled to start on October 15, 2025.
Despite these enforcement actions, the California State Fire Marshal approved waivers to operate the pipeline system despite its design defects (lack of effective cathodic protection), which was the cause of the 2015 Plains spill. The decision was challenged in court by the Environmental Defense Center and several other environmental groups and, in July 2025, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction, halting the restart pending further litigation. In addition to this injunction, Sable also needs a separate approval to restart the pipeline system, which is currently under review.
At the heart of the matter is a troubling precedent: that a company penalized for unlawful coastal activity could still proceed with reactivating dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure despite sustained regulatory objections, community concerns, and unresolved environmental risks.
The proposed restart of the Las Flores pipeline has triggered a large statewide coalition working to stop this project. The pipeline runs through communities, including Buellton, 122 miles from Santa Barbara County to Kern County. Another spill could wreak havoc along much of the California coast, as it did in 2015.
Santa Barbara energy division map showing all oil and gas infrastructure in the county. Source: Santa Barbara County Planning and Development
Residents, students, advocates, and community leaders have voiced serious concerns about the risks of restarting infrastructure responsible for one of California’s worst coastal oil disasters. Many can recount the emotional toll as vividly as the physical toll from the previous spills. Carol Millar, a Santa Barbara County resident shared her thoughts, “I’ve never taken how special this area is for granted. As a kid, I was traumatized by the ’69 oil spill, and in 2015 I had to watch my own kids go through the same trauma.”
Over 3700 seabirds were killed during the 1969 oil spill. Photo Credits: Environmental Defense Center
Following the 2015 oil spill, trained professionals carried out wildlife rescue and rehabilitation efforts. Photo credits (left to right): Ashley Spratt/USFWS and USFWS (CC BY 2.0)
At UC Santa Barbara, student groups have mobilized against the proposed pipeline under the campaign name “UCSB Stop Sable.” At one rally on campus, Izzi Sistek, chair of the environmental affairs advocacy board, stated, “I really want to be creating a community around environmentalism. That is the best way to overcome systems of oppression and advocate for drastic changes that we need to make in society.”
Sistek’s call for collective action reflects a broader shift: young people in Santa Barbara and beyond are no longer asking politely for a seat at the table. They are demanding accountability, rooted in values of justice, equity, and care. They argue that these are not abstract policy arguments, but instead personal, urgent, and high-stakes decisions about the world they will be left.
Rally against Sable Offshore’s restart plans. Photo credits: Center for Biological Diversity
In June, UCSB students were joined by members of the Society of Fearless Grandmothers Santa Barbara for a rally against the pipeline. Irene Cooke, a member of the latter group, called out Governor Newsom for his inaction: “On the one hand, [Newsom] wants to be a climate champion, and on the other hand, he’s sitting idly by, letting State Parks give a waiver for work in this park, letting the Fire Marshal give a waiver for safety measures, totally abandoning the people of Santa Barbara County.”
Business leaders and celebrities who have homes in Santa Barbara have also lent their voices to the fight. At a Santa Barbara rally, actor and activist Jane Fonda emphasized the wider climate stakes:
It’s important for us to raise our voices for Santa Barbara, for the coastline, but also for the climate crisis. We’re not supposed to still be drilling for oil and putting it through pipes and sending it places. That’s supposed to be phasing out. And so I’m here to raise my voice, and I’ll be back.
Ryan Gellert, the CEO of Patagonia, penned an opinion piece which also called on Governor Newsom to act:
Fossil fuel companies are producing more than ever and making record profits. We cannot continue to let their executives’ greed outweigh the welfare of our communities and local ecosystems… We’re asking the Newsom administration and state agencies to stop a disaster in the making. We must enforce the order to stop work on reopening this pipeline until an environmental review can be completed and the public has sufficient time to comment.
Finally, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a longtime environmental advocate and Santa Barbara County resident, voiced fierce concern over the pipeline’s restart:
Sable says, trust us. Trust us. It’s so safe. Well, if it’s so safe, they should have no problem with the state doing a full environmental review of the project, right? And they should have no problem showing their plans to the public. So we can weigh in. Right? They have done neither.
These voices, spanning generations and backgrounds, all point to the same conclusion: the people of Santa Barbara County oppose the restarting of the Las Flores pipeline. But this is not just a Santa Barbara issue—it’s a California one. A future spill would not only devastate the Central Coast but threaten inland regions as well. That’s why opposition has spread across the state, with environmental organizations and legislators from all over calling for a halt. For many Californians, allowing the restart of fossil fuel infrastructure like Las Flores undermines the state’s commitment to climate leadership and environmental justice.
These stories and actions all point to the same conclusion: a growing recognition that continuing to prop up fossil fuel infrastructure in the midst of a worsening climate crisis is untenable.
The 2015 Plains spill should not be thought of simply as history, but as precedent. If the project were truly safe, there would be no justification for avoiding environmental review and community engagement. The lack of transparency and oversight signals the potential for repeating past harms.
The case against restarting the Las Flores pipeline is overwhelming. The infrastructure at the heart of this proposal was responsible for one of the worst coastal oil disasters in California’s history. Its environmental damage continues to be felt today, and the pipeline remains offline because it has not been deemed safe to operate. Yet Sable is now attempting to bypass full environmental review to revive this aging infrastructure. If restarted, the project would double all greenhouse gas emissions in Santa Barbara County.
Communities across the Central Coast have made their position clear: this is a step backwards. In a time when California should be urgently accelerating the transition to clean energy, this project locks into more fossil fuel dependency, more risk, and more harm.
The state has the tools and the responsibility to act. Governor Newsom and state regulators must:
This is more than a local permitting issue. It is a test of Governor Newsom’s and California’s commitment to address climate change, its regulatory integrity, and its willingness to stand with people over fossil fuel companies.
This report was researched and written by Trevor Stankiewicz, Researcher at Climate Rights International. It was reviewed by Brad Adams, Executive Director and Linda Lakhdhir, Legal Director. Sakeena Razick, Program Associate, contributed to the logistics and production.
Climate Rights International would like to thank the Environmental Defense Center for their expertise and partnership. Most importantly, we extend our deep appreciation to the many residents of Santa Barbara County and across California who have made their voices heard on the urgent need to prioritize community and climate over fossil fuel interests.
Cover photo: Environmentalist groups rally against Sable Offshore Corp’s restart plans. Photo Credits: Center for Biological Diversity
