As a grandmother nearing 70, I've learned that failing to heed history's lessons dooms us to repeat them. And my friends, our Santa Barbara coast knows this lesson all too well.
Remember the devastating oil spills — 1969 in the Santa Barbara Channel, and 2015 at Refugio? Over 450,000 gallons of crude oil coating 150 miles of our precious coastline. Dead wildlife. Devastated fishing communities. Ruined beaches. The cleanup and damages have cost over $750 million — and that's just in dollars, not in long term or hidden environmental damage.
Yet here we are again. A relatively new Texas oil company continues its plan to restart the old, corroded pipeline along the Gaviota coastline, defying the Cease and Desist orders from the Coastal Commission and other state agencies. This very same corroded pipeline that federal regulators identified as the cause of the 2015 spill. A 2020 Texas startup — Sable Offshore — funded 99 percent by Exxon, when Exxon deemed the pipeline too risky to operate themselves, are heads down, hurtling us all toward the next crisis for our coastal waters and lands.