California state prosecutors are taking Sable Offshore to court, accusing the oil company of repeatedly discharging dirt and other material into coastal streams and wetlands without a permit as it rushed to bring a pipeline and an offshore drilling platform back online.
What happened: Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit Friday in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, asking a judge for injunctive relief as well as civil penalties up to $5,000 for each day the violation occurred.
The lawsuit accuses Sable of digging around the idle pipeline it is seeking to repair and reopen without first seeking a permit from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, as well as providing only minimal information to local water regulators despite repeated requests and notices of violation. The work, called “pig and dig” operations, risks damaging the “sensitive aquatic and riparian habitat” by discharging dirt and vegetation in violation of state water quality rules, according to the complaint.
“By avoiding the imposition of waste discharge requirements and associated regulatory oversight of its activities until after the work was completed, Sable placed profits over environmental protection in its rush to get oil on the market,” the complaint reads.
