Showdown Over Sable Restarting Oil Pipeline in Santa Barbara

This oil drilling rig off the coast of Santa Barbara is one of numerous that line the ocean view. Photo courtesy of Way Out West News. On Saturday, March 14, using the pretext of the war on Iran and spiking fuel prices, the Trump administration allowed Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the controversial Santa Ynez offshore oil platform and pipeline along the Santa Barbara County coast. The pipeline has been shut down since 2015, when a rupture caused by external corrosion caused a massive 142,000-gallon spill at Refugio State Beach and sent some 21,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. The move has led to a showdown of sorts that’s pitting Sable and the Trump administration against local environmental groups and authorities in Santa Barbara and the State of California. To shed light on this developing situation and the broader ramifications of the Trump administration ramping up extraction and use of fossil fuels,Terra Verde co-host and Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief, Maureen Nandini Mitra, talks with Talia Nimmer, an attorney with the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity, and Collin Rees, US Program Manager at Oil Change International.   Take Action: Tell the US Department of Transportation not to waive California’s safety requirements for Sable’s pipeline. The post Showdown Over Sable Restarting Oil Pipeline in Santa Barbara appeared first on KPFA.