The oil company temporarily ceased operations last week after Santa Barbara County rejected its emergency application to truck oil to refineries , spokesman Richard Keil said. A Santa Barbara County official said the company’s problem didn’t constitute an emergency and it could go through the normal procedure to get a permit to truck oil. Federal regulators investigating the cause of the spill have said the 2-foot-wide pipe was corroded where it ruptured. Exxon Mobil had cut daily production on the Hondo, Harmony and Heritage rigs from 30,000 barrels to 10,000 barrels and was storing it at the company’s plant in Las Flores Canyon, 15 miles west of Santa Barbara. The plant separates water and natural gas from crude, and another company processes the natural gas. The plant was capable of storing up to 540,000 barrels of crude, according to Santa Barbara County. The company said it had expected to […]