(CN) — California accused an offshore oil drilling company of repeatedly discharging waste into inland waters near Santa Barbara without a permit in its rush to bring its drilling operations back online.
In a complaint filed Friday night in Santa Barbara County Superior Court on behalf of the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, state Attorney General Rob Bonta accuses Sable Offshore Corp. of purposely not applying for permits to discharge waste — mostly dirt and vegetation into waterways, discharge that “could affect water quality in the rich aquatic and riparian habitat of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.”
“By avoiding the imposition of waste discharge requirements and associated regulatory oversight of its activities until after the work was completed, Sable placed profits over environmental protection in its rush to get oil on the market,” Bonta says in the complaint…