ExxonMobil’s Refugio Pipeline Request Ends in Tie Vote

Requests to vote down Exxon’s attempt to add safety valves to its Line 901 — the pipeline that busted apart on May 19, 2015, spilling crude oil onto Refugio Beach and into the Pacific Ocean — came before the five Santa Barbara County supervisors from the usual anti-oil organizations, but also from unexpected groups like the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Goleta and the Santa Maria–Lompoc branch of the NAACP, as well as nearly 300 Santa Barbara County residents, who’d emailed letters that were largely boilerplate in their similar language.

Perhaps a dozen letters also came from supporters of the project, emphasizing that the Board of Supervisors had a duty to remain consistent with the permits and regulatory processes that Exxon had already invested in, because otherwise, what message did this send to businesses that also had to obey county rules?

When Supervisor Joan Hartmann recused herself from the vote, explaining that the pipeline runs “adjacent to the northeast corner of my property,” four supervisors remained — two representing the historically oil-patch North County and two from South County, which had suffered both the 1969 and 2015 oil spills. A tie vote was expected and was, indeed, the outcome. But not before some vehement rhetoric was heard, not just from the attorneys but from the many in attendance.