Zaca Preserve in Buellton sues Sable over ‘secret plans’ to repair and restart oil pipeline

Sable Offshore, the oil company seeking to renew the pipeline that ruptured at the Refugio Oil Spill nearly a decade ago, has suffered another legal blow after this year’s lawsuit with Santa Barbara County and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife — this time from Zaca Preserve, LLC, a 300-acre tract of vacant land north of Buellton. Domain representatives sued Sable on Oct. 3 over claims that Sable’s “unsupported and secretive plans” to repair and restart the oil pipeline — which runs along the Gaviota coast and up toward Kern County through Zaca’s properties — conflict with the terms of an established easement agreement. between the two parties. Zaca is calling for a new easement and financial compensation for lost property value due to the pipeline’s “extremely negative stigma.”

Meeting the plaintiff’s demands would go against a $70 million class-action settlement agreement between Sable and several property owners along the pipeline, which resulted in new easements and financial compensation for them in May. Those easements agreed that Sable would not build a new pipeline, but rather repair the old one. Zaca wants the opposite.

“To prevent further damage to Zaca, Sable must either negotiate a new Zaca easement and build a new pipeline on Zaca’s property…or abandon the pipeline and remove the pipeline from Zaca’s property entirely, and reroute the pipeline through other properties in Zaca. the area,” the suit reads.

Zaca Preserve has not joined the class action lawsuit because “the relief provided … is not remotely sufficient to offset Zaca’s losses,” the lawsuit said. The current lawsuit estimates the value of the Zaca Preserve at more than $40 million, and claims that some of the seven 50-acre lots will be “virtually unsellable” after the history of the pipeline is disclosed to potential buyers. The only other option, the lawsuit said, is for Sable to acquire Zaca’s properties at that market price.

Sable representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Todd Amspoker, the attorney representing Zaca Preserve at the Santa Barbara law firm Price, Postel & Parma LLP, declined to comment on the case.

A case management conference is scheduled for January 31, 2025 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.