ExxonMobil dropped its lawsuit against the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for denying its application to truck oil temporarily from its offshore platforms along the Gaviota Coast to a refinery in Kern County until a pipeline becomes available. Exxon dropped the suit the day after it completed the sale of its Santa Ynez Unit to Sable Offshore Corporation. (Sable Offshore Looks to Restart Offshore Operations by Mid 2024.)
In 2022, Santa Barbara County denied its September 2017 request for an interim permit to truck approximately 11,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the Las Flores Canyon processing plant to either the Phillips 66 Santa Maria Pump Station or to the Pentland Terminal in Kern County. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors denied the request in 2022.
ExxonMobil filed suit against the Board in March 2022, arguing that the Board abused its discretion and that its decision interfered with Exxon’s fundamental vested right to operate its Santa Ynez Unit facilities. Exxon argued that the Board “improperly treated the consideration of the project as a referendum on offshore production as well as the transportation and use of crude oil in the County of Santa Barbara.”
In September 2023, a U.S. judge denied ExxonMobil’s request to reverse the decision, preventing a restart of the Santa Ynez Unit. (Exxon Denied Summary Judgement in Santa Barbara Trucking Permit Case.)
The trucking permit case is part of the larger issue over oil development offshore of California. Exxon has also sued the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for their denial of permit applications to install 16 safety valves on the pipeline system. (Exxon Sues Santa Barbara County over Denial of Pipeline Safety Valve.)