Trump's grudge could lead to the next major oil spill

The president and his allies are pushing to reopen pipelines that devastated California beaches in 2015.

- ADAM SCHIFF

AL SEIB Los Angeles Times CLEANUP EFFORTS following a major spill at Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara.

FOR A COASTAL California community, an oil spill has devastating and long-lasting consequences.

These catastrophes kill off tourism and local economies, destroy marine life, and disrupt fisheries and critical scientific research, costing millions in both cleanup costs and lost revenue. Many Californians will remember the Refugio State Beach oil spill of 2015 as one of the most recent and destructive examples of this devastation in their lifetime. But if Donald Trump and his big oil allies get their way, the exact same pipelines that caused that Refugio spill will be reopened — and we will take a major step backward in the fight to keep our coasts clean.

Right now, a new Texas oil company named Sable Offshore Corp. is attempting to restart the pipelines that have been dormant for the decade since the Refugio spill, but now with another decade's worth of corrosion. Don't be fooled - this is not an upstart company looking to chart a different path than the pipeline's last owner, Exxon Mobil. After state and local officials, community leaders and environmental activists fought to stop Exxon Mobil from taking these pipelines back online, Exxon conveniently stepped in to loan Sable the $623 million it would need to purchase the pipelines and other oil production infrastructure.

But Exxon is not Sable's only friend in a high place.