An amended class action and individual lawsuits were filed against Plains All American Pipeline by Santa Barbara County property owners who have easement contracts with Plains and whose properties were impacted during the 2015 Refugio oil spill. (Grey Fox, LLC et. al v. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., et. al, U.S. District Court, Central District, Case Number 2:16-cv-03157-PSG-JEM, December 17, 2018).
Plains built pipelines to transport crude oil and other liquids from the California coast to inland refinery markets in California. The pipelines, Lines 901 and 903, were built in 1991 after property owners signed easement contracts with Plains’ predecessor Celeron Pipeline Company of California. Plains is seeking to construct a second pipeline, Lines 901R and 903R, using the existing easement contracts that were negotiated almost 30 years ago.
The Plains construction proposal, according to the complaint, contemplates construction of an entirely new pipeline system, using three separate crews, each using 87 vehicles and more than 200 employees, working 13 to 24 hours per day, six days a week. A fourth crew of 27 employees and 27 vehicles will be utilized to flush, clean and stabilize the existing system before abandoning it in place. Even by Plains’ own estimates, this construction process will take between 15 and 21 months with more than 336 vehicles, transporting up to 740 employees, with more than 350 round trips to and from the job site each day.
“Plains is claiming rights in its construction permits that far exceed those granted in the easements,” says A. Barry Cappello, managing partner of Cappello & Noël LLP and lead trial attorney for the plaintiffs. “Just about every contract expressly limits Plains to one pipeline on the easements. These easements do not allow for the construction of an entirely new pipeline, and certainly do not allow prolonged and disruptive construction.”
The easement contracts state that Plains would maintain, operate and repair the pipeline as needed. “Clearly this was not done,” says Cappello. “Besides everything else, there is obviously a trust issue. ” After the 2015 oil spill, Plains was convicted of nine counts of criminal wrongdoing including one felony conviction related to its negligent operation of the pipeline, which resulted in the oil spill.
The plaintiffs, among other demands, are seeking an injunction prohibiting Plains from attempting to utilize the existing easements for the construction and maintenance of a second pipeline. They are also demanding that Plains be required to provide appropriate compensation to the plaintiffs for any additional property rights, property cleanup, ongoing risk, burden and access needed to complete the construction process and consistently maintain the pipeline in a sound manner.
Cappello & Noël, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Keller Rohrback LLP are representing class and individual members. The firms also are representing three other certified subclasses against Plains involving the oil spill: fisheries, beachfront and beach easement property owners/renters, and oil workers/oil industry service providers.
