Buellton’s City Council joined the City of Goleta in voting to declare its opposition to the restart of Sable Offshore’s oil pipeline. The pipeline — a portion of which ruptured in the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill — runs beneath residential areas in Buellton, and city councilmembers want it rebuilt and rerouted.
“The City of Buellton is the only city in the county that the pipeline runs directly through,” said City Manager Scott Wolfe during the council meeting on February 13. While it’s unclear whether any homes lie directly atop the underground pipeline, the pipeline easement applies to at least 30 homes.
After much deliberation — including some passionate discussion between Mayor David Silva and Councilmember John Sanchez — the Buellton City Council voted 2-1 to declare their opposition to transferring permits from previous owner ExxonMobil to Sable Offshore. This decision will go before the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on February 25.
Additionally, Buellton is calling for more environmental review and requesting that Sable and the supervisors explore the possibility of rerouting the pipeline around Buellton.
Councilmember Hudson Hornick recused himself due to his employment with Santa Barbara County. Mayor David Silva and Vice Mayor Elysia Lewis voted to oppose the transfer, and Councilmember Sanchez voted against taking a stance.
“I don’t think we should get in this fight,” Councilmember Sanchez said.
“Our number one goal has to be community safety and community health, and I have concerns,” said Mayor Silva. “From a city safety perspective, it is not good policy to have a town with an active pipeline running through it.”
The pipeline’s previous owner, ExxonMobil, proposed the pipeline be rerouted around the city in 2017 when they planned to rebuild it entirely. Now, with owner Sable Offshore pushing to repair the pipeline instead of replacing it, that offer appears to be well off the table.
Sable is still battling a Buellton-based lawsuit brought about in October 2024 by Zaca Preserve LLC, a 138-acre piece of land the pipeline runs through. Zaca claims that Sable violated the terms of their easement and significantly lowered their property value. In the suit, they asked Sable to either negotiate a new easement to rebuild the pipeline on Zaca’s property or reroute it off their property.
Meeting either of Zaca’s demands would go against a $70 million class-action settlement between Sable and other affected landowners in May 2024. Sable negotiated new easements with the landowners, the terms of which bar Sable from building a new pipeline.
Sable must respond to Zaca’s lawsuit by March 4.
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