04/05/2025

Download(opens in new window)

SANTA BARBARA, CA -Sable Offshore Corp. (Sable) filed a letter and attachments Friday in response to the California Coastal Commission's (Commission) proposed enforcement action regarding work to restart the Santa Ynez Unit and Las Flores Pipeline System.

Sable Vice President of Environmental and Governmental Affairs Steve Rusch offered the following statement:

"Our letter to the Coastal Commission reiterates the repair and maintenance work done to ensure the safe condition of the Santa Ynez Unit and onshore pipelines was fully authorized by coastal development permits previously approved by the California Coastal Commission and Santa Barbara County. Work on these existing facilities is substantially identical to work that has taken place here for the past 30 years, without a need for new Coastal Act authorizations. Commission staff continues to exaggerate the project's impacts, which were de minimis thanks to Sable's implementation of best management practices."

The Coastal Commission will discuss the enforcement report at its April 10 meeting in Santa Barbara.

Below is additional background information on Sable, the Santa Ynez Unit and Las Flores Pipeline System:

• Sable's repair and maintenance activities (anomaly repair work, safety valve installation work, and span remediation work) comply with applicable provisions of Santa Barbara County's Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO), certified Local Coastal Program (LCP), and the Coastal Act.

• Sable's repair and maintenance work is fully authorized by coastal development permits previously approved by Santa Barbara County and the Commission. These activities do not require new or amended coastal development permits and are not otherwise subject to the Commission's enforcement authority.

• Sable implemented several construction best management practices to limit impacts to coastal resources, biological resources, and archaeological resources.

• Sable's onshore repair and maintenance work remained consistent with prior impact analyses related to ongoing repair and maintenance along the onshore pipeline corridor, and subsequent ecological and archaeological resources analyses have confirmed that impacts resulting from such work remained within the scope of impacts previously analyzed and approved.

• Onshore anomalies: Santa Barbara County reviewed the detailed information Sable submitted with its Zoning Clearance applications for anomaly repair sites in 2024 and supplemental materials regarding previously completed anomaly repair sites. The County confirmed in a letter dated February 12, 2025, that the anomaly repair work is authorized by the pipelines' existing coastal development permits and, consistent with past practice, no new or separate Coastal Act authorization is required for Sable to perform the work. The County reaffirmed its conclusion on March 21, 2025, with respect to Sable's previously completed anomaly repairs.

• Onshore safety valves: Sable was required to undertake safety valve repair and maintenance activities pursuant to state law that the Coastal Commission supported. The safety valve repair work involves the exact same type of work as pipeline anomaly repairs, and Sable completed the safety valve work only after the County confirmed in writing that no further authorization from the County was required for such work to be completed.

• Offshore span remediation: Sable's span remediation maintenance activities were contemplated and authorized by the original coastal development permit approved by the Coastal Commission for the offshore pipelines in 1988. Span remediation activities have been performed in the past on these same offshore pipelines without requiring any new Coastal Act authorizations.

• Sable has filed a lawsuit against the Commission in Superior Court in Santa Barbara County seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief to protect its vested rights to repair, maintain and operate the Santa Ynez Unit and Las Flores Pipeline System.

• Sable employs 100 individuals and 400 mostly unionized contractors. Upon restart of the pipeline system, an additional 300 jobs will be created. To date, Sable has spent over $13 million at local businesses while working to safely repair the pipeline.

• Sable expects the project to initially generate $5 million a year in new tax revenue for Santa Barbara County.

• To learn more, please visit Sable Offshore Corp.'s project website.

###