The Santa Barbara County pipeline caused a major oil spill a decade ago. The new owners say they don't need new permits. The fine is the Coastal Commission's largest.
In summary The pipeline caused a major oil spill a decade ago, fouling the ocean off Santa Barbara County. The new owners say they don't need new permits for repairs. The fine is the Coastal Commission's largest. The California Coastal Commission today fined an oil company a record $18 million for repeatedly defying orders to stop work on a corroded pipeline in Santa Barbara County that caused a major oil spill nearly a decade ago. The vote sets the stage for a potentially high-stakes test of the state's power to police oil development along the coast. The onshore pipeline in Gaviota gushed more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil onto coastal land and ocean waters, shutting down fisheries, closing beaches and harming marine life and coastal habitats in 2015. Sable Offshore Corp., a Houston-based company, purchased the pipeline from the previous owners, Exxon Mobil, last year, and is seeking to restart the Santa Ynez offshore oil operation. The Coastal Commission said Sable has done something no alleged violator has ever done before: ignoring the agency's multiple cease-and-desist orders and continuing its work. "Our orders were valid and legally issued, and Sable's refusal to comply is a refusal to follow the law," said Commissioner Meagan Harmon, who also is a member of the Santa Barbara City Council. "Their refusal, in a very real sense, is a subversion of the will of the people of the state of California." "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." Carol Millar, Santa Barbara County resident The company argued it can proceed using the pipeline's original county permit issued in the 1980s. In February, Sable sued the Coastal Commission saying the state is unlawfully halting the company's repair and maintenance work. At a 5-hour public hearing in Santa Barbara today, more than 100 speakers lined up, many of them urging the…