OHLONE HOMELANDS/SAN FRANCISCO— Environmentalists and Tribal community members will rally against offshore oil drilling on Friday before a California Coastal Commission meeting. Attendees will advocate against restarting a dangerous oil pipeline near Santa Barbara, in Chumash homelands, which would reactivate three drilling platforms off the California coast that have been shut down for nearly 10 years after causing one of the worst oil spills in California history in 2015.

With the incoming Trump administration promising to “drill, drill, drill,” the rally will highlight the critical role of state agencies in protecting California’s coast, communities and climate.

Speakers will support the Coastal Commission’s recent actions to hold the pipeline’s owner accountable for unauthorized work and urge strong continued oversight of this oil project.

What: Rally and press conference opposing restart of dangerous oil pipeline in Santa Barbara, followed by public comment.

Visuals will include a mock oil pipeline, a large puppet representing the ocean, other representations of ocean life and large photos of leaked oil and damage caused by the 2015 spill.

When: Rally and speakers at 8 a.m., Friday, Nov. 15. The commission meeting starts at 9 a.m.

Where: Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111. The rally will be held at the Embarcadero Plaza on the Bay side of the hotel, catty-corner from Market St. and Steuart St.

Who: Speakers and attendees from the Center for Biological Diversity, Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, Extinction Rebellion SF Bay, Oil and Gas Action Network, SB Fearless Grandmothers, 1000 Grandmothers, CALPIRG Students, the Last Chance Alliance, 350 Bay Area, the Sierra Club Santa Barbara-Ventura Chapter and the Sunflower Alliance.

Background

A Texas oil company, Sable Offshore Corp., announced plans to restart oil and gas production from the Santa Ynez Unit by the end of 2024. But the company still needs a number of agency approvals to resume operations, which have been shut down since a heavily corroded pipeline ruptured and caused the catastrophic 2015 Refugio oil spill.

In late September the Coastal Commission cited Sable for violating the law by conducting unpermitted construction work to restart the pipeline. The commission issued a second notice a few days later when construction had not stopped.

The Refugio spill devastated 150 miles of the California coast, polluting thousands of acres of shoreline and subtidal habitat, killing hundreds of marine mammals and birds and shutting down fisheries. It cost hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up, restore and compensate for and resulted in a felony conviction for the pipeline’s former owner.

The commission will soon decide what additional permit approvals and other oversight measures are necessary before the Santa Ynez Unit can restart.