SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – The California Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Sable Offshore, a Houston-based company working to restart oil production locally, for alleged violations of state environmental laws while preparing pipelines that have remained dormant since the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.
The lawsuit alleges that Sable Offshore repeatedly discharged was into state waters without proper authorization and despite warning from the authorizing agency.
According to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, the environmental regulator has issued multiple notices detailing the potential violations since December of 2024.
In April of this year, the Board adopted Resolution R3-2025-0024 which recommended that the state's Attorney General's Office file a lawsuit in the local superior court seeking the assessment of civil liability and injunctive relief for alleged violations of the California Water Code.
"No corporation should gain a business advantage by ignoring the law and harming the environment," said Jane Gray, chair of the Central Coast Water Board. "Entities that discharge waste are required to obtain permits from the state to protect water quality. Sable Offshore Corp. is no different. It, however, chose to ignore state environmental regulation."
The civil complaint went on to allege that the company discharged sediment and vegetation into inland bodies of water along the Gaviota Coast while also improperly submitting information to state regulators.
Attempts to prepare pipelines both onshore and offshore to restart oil production from offshore oil platforms and the Las Flores Canyon processing facility have been met with a variety of legal hurdles.
In February of 2024, ExxonMobil dropped its lawsuit trying to secure the right to truck oil overland after selling all assets including 114 wells, three offshore platforms, the Las Flores Canyon facility, and associated pipelines -collectively referred to as the Santa Ynez Unit- to Sable Offshore.
Below is information provided to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from an investor presentation by Sable Offshore ahead of its merger with Flame Acquisition Corp. as well as the purchase of those facilities mentioned above.
Sable is also engaged in a lawsuit against regulatory hurdles and penalties imposed by the California Coastal Commission regarding work done in the Coastal Zone necessary to restart oil production as well as a warning that public claims to have restarted oil production already may have violated leases issued by the California State Lands Commission.
The company is seeking damages in a lawsuit for the delays and alleged damage to the pipelines system in excess of $347 million.
Your News Channel followed Sable Offshore's repair work along the Gaviota coastline in March, April, and May of this year as well as work on offshore pipelines connecting platforms to the Las Flores Canyon processing facility as well as the announcement by the company that it had restarted production at some of the wells on offshore platforms.
The announcement came almost exactly ten years after the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill from ruptured Line 901, now known as Line 324 and part of pipeline work cited by state regulators, which impacted 150 miles of California coastline and destroyed thousands of acres of shoreline habitats.
On September 16 of this year, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office filed criminal charges against the Houston-based company including five felony charges of knowingly discharging a pollutant into local waterways between at least October 2024 and April of 2025 and 16 misdemeanor charges of obstructing a streambed and improper actions concerning materials considered dangerous to local wildlife.
An arraignment on the criminal complaint in Santa Barbara County Superior Court is currently scheduled for Nov. 4 of this year.
"The allegations from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office are inflammatory and extremely misleading," stated a spokesperson on behalf of Sable Offshore regarding the charges filed earlier the same week. "All of the repairs and excavations were supervised by a certified independent biologist and cultural resource professional and Office of State Fire Marshal personnel. No wildlife were adversely affected. All of these previously disturbed areas have been or are being remediated in accordance with state and local erosion control mitigation measures."
Despite those civil and criminal complaints, Sable Offshore submitted its official restart plan with the Office of State Fire Marshal in late September and announced it had also applied with the federal government for an alternative shipping plan just days after criminal charges were filed locally.
The proposal, filed with members of the National Energy Dominance Council, was for permits to construct an offshore transportation and treating vessel location that would be approximately one nautical mile away from Platform Harmony.
The decision to ship crude oil from an offshore tender in federal waters to an out-of-state or even international destination would likely bypass the authority of California-based regulators.
Sable Offshore stated that the savings from not restarting the Las Flores Canyon facility and onshore pipelines subject to state oversight could cover the costs of pursuing the second option to use transport vessels in federal waters.
Both options are compared in the image below, courtesy of Sable Offshore.
Sable Offshore noted that legislation recently passed by the state legislature, authored by local Assemblymember Hart, and signed into law by the Governor played a factor in its pursuit of alternative options as well as potential out-of-state destinations for crude oil from the Santa Ynez Unit.
On Sep. 29, Sable filed a declaratory judgement action against Kern County seeking confirmation if Assemblymember Hart's SB 237 applies to pipelines from the Las Flores Canyon facility to oil production infrastructure there.
"Sable continues to work diligently with the State of California to safely and responsibly resume petroleum transportation through the Las Flores Pipeline System in accordance with its Federal Consent Decree, which was entered into by several state and federal agencies," argued the company in a statement on its website published Monday. "Continued delays in approving the restart plans for the Las Flores Pipeline System will prompt Sable to pursue the accelerated Offshore Storage and Treating Vessel strategy, which was utilized to process Santa Ynez Unit production in federal waters from 1981 – 1994."
Your News Channel has reached out to Sable Offshore, the Office of State Fire Marshal, and the California Coastal Commission for more information about restart plans and their respective responses will be added to this article when they are received.
Sable Offshore faces new civil lawsuit over alleged violations of state environmental laws News Channel 3-12.
Hence then, the article about sable offshore faces new civil lawsuit over alleged violations of state environmental laws was published today ( ) and is available on News channel ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Sable Offshore faces new civil lawsuit over alleged violations of state environmental laws )
Also on site :
- Will Trent's Erika Christensen On The Significance Of Angie Having A Girl, Her Engagement To Seth, And What Changes (And Doesn't) With Will
- US trade with Southeast Asia and Taiwan surging despite Trump tariffs
- Remember 2016? Panera Wants You to Relive It — One Broccoli Cheddar Bread Bowl at a Time