SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Sable Offshore has not completed all necessary steps to restart oil production locally a state regulator confirmed Friday.
On Wednesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to not immediately halt the Houston-based company's plans to use pipelines shuttered since the Refugio Oil Spill of 2015 to transport oil, but according to California State Parks, an easement necessary to restart production has not been granted for pipelines that cross through the state agency's jurisdiction.
"Sable still needs to obtain an easement for the portion of the pipeline on State Parks land prior to restarting operations," stated the Deputy Director of Communications and Marketing for California State Parks Marty Greenstein in response to Your News Channel's inquiries. "On Nov. 13, 2025, State Parks informed Sable it will be preparing an Initial Study to determine the proper CEQA documentation for Sable’s easement request at Gaviota State Park."
The request to stay the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's decision to take over oversight of Sable Offshore's restart plans using emergency permits was denied after environmental groups challenged the Trump Administration's approval.
Plaintiff's alleged in their suit filed on Dec. 24, that the federal regulator had, "bypassed the required public notice, opportunity for public participation, statement of reasons for its decisions, and other conditions generally required for pipeline safety regulation waivers under the federal Pipeline Safety Act".
In response, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration argued that the emergency permits granted to Sable Offshore were based on a national energy emergency declared by President Trump earlier this year and could bypass regulatory requirements.
Earlier in December, an 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration informed Sable Offshore that it had approved its restart plans for Line CA-324 and Line CA-325 on Dec. 22, 2025.
Line CA-324, formerly known as Line 901, has remained dormant since it ruptured, causing the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill which impacted 150 miles of California coastline and destroyed thousands of acres of shoreline habitats.
Image from the Department of Transportation's filing in response to the Dec. 24 lawsuit."Sable stated that expedited review of its application was warranted in light of the national energy emergency declared by the President under the National Emergencies Act in Executive Order 14156," explained the Department of Transportation when granting the emergency permits to Sable Offshore. "This emergency special permit allows Sable to operate Lines CA-324 and CA-325 without being subject to the requirement to evaluate and remediate corrosion of or along a longitudinal seam weld within 180 days."
Back in September, Sable Offshore submitted official paperwork to restart oil production with the California Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) and the state-based safety agency responded the next month that there were still unmet conditions before an official restart.
In response to the state safety regulator's conclusions of unmet conditions, Sable Offshore informed investors that it had determined that the pipeline connecting the Santa Ynez Unit to Pentland Station in Kern County is technically an interstate pipeline under the Pipeline Safety Act and requested that federal regulators take over its restart plans.
The Department of Transportation agreed with Sable Offshore's assessment and promptly asserted its authority over restart plans in mid-December.
"EDC [Environmental Defense Center] and its clients are deeply concerned with the potential of this pipeline being turned on while recent findings from the state Fire Marshal show that the pipeline still needs repairs before it can safely resume operations," noted Linda Krop with the Environmental Defense Center, one of the plaintiff's in the lawsuit challenging the emergency permitting filed on Dec. 24.
Wednesday's decision in federal court did grant that the Dec. 24 lawsuit would receive expedited processing and plaintiff's opening briefs are due by Jan. 26, 2026.
Despite that still outstanding requirement with State Parks, pending litigation in federal court, and safety concerns noted by the Office of State Fire Marshall, members of the Trump Administration are already celebrating the decision to not halt Sable Offshore's plans.
Leftists in California just lost a battle in their war on affordable energy Oil production at the Las Flores Pipeline off the coast of Santa Barbara is MOVING FORWARD.It’s time to DRILL, BABY, DRILL and bring down high energy prices! t.co/EYYzcerb23
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) January 1, 2026"It was great news for American Energy Dominance to close out 2025 - the decision to continue with the restarting of Sable Offshore Corp. production will provide us with crude oil from 3 offshore platforms to boost input into California, tweeted Brittany Kelm, Senior Policy Advisor to the National Energy Dominance Council following the decision. "Thank you for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and all legal teams who worked over Christmas and New Years to ensure production didn't get halted via litigation."
"Thank you Sable Offshore Corp. for trusting the Trump Administration to deliver on regulatory certainty for your operations to provide Americans with affordable and reliable energy," added Kelm in the same tweet.
Public claims made by Sable Offshore and the Trump Administration in May about already restarting oil production may have violated leases issued by the California State Lands Commission connected to the Santa Ynez Unit.
"This is a significant achievement for the Interior Department and aligns with the Administration's Energy Dominance initiative, as it successfully resumed production in just five months," stated the U.S. Department of Interior in July of 2025. "With production now underway at Sable's Platform Harmony, the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) continues to work with Sable to bring additional production online. Preproduction inspections for Platform Heritage are set to begin soon and will mark the second SYU platform to come online, targeting an October 2025 timeframe."
In response, Sable Offshore walked back its claims to have restarted production with investors explaining in a disclaimer that, "The Santa Ynez Unit assets discussed in this [May 19, 2025] press release have not sold commercial quantities of hydrocarbons since such Santa Ynez Unit assets were shut in during June of 2015 when the only onshore pipeline transporting hydrocarbons produced from such Santa Ynez Unit assets to market ceased transportation. There can be no assurance that the necessary approvals will be obtained that would allow the onshore pipeline to recommence transportation and allow the Santa Ynez Unit assets to recommence sales."
Sable is also facing civil charges brought by the California Attorney General and criminal charges brought by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office regarding its pipeline repair work.
"The allegations from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office are inflammatory and extremely misleading," stated a spokesperson on behalf of Sable Offshore. "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.
In February of 2024, ExxonMobil dropped its lawsuit against Santa Barbara County after it denied the energy giant's request to use trucks to transport crude oil on local roadways instead of restarting the dormant pipelines Sable is trying to restart now.
Since the sale, Sable has sought to restart oil extraction from 114 wells on three offshore platforms, transportation through associated pipelines (including CA-324 and CA-325), and a facility at Las Flores Canyon that are collectively called the Santa Ynez Unit.
Sable's purchase had an important deadline regarding getting oil from the Santa Ynez Unit to market.
Court documents revealed that Sable secured a $622,000,000 loan from Exxon to fund the purchase of the Santa Ynez Unit which has a set expiration date where ownership would revert back to the oil giant unless oil from the Santa Ynez Unit under Sable's management enters the market.
In addition to that financial deadline, the Environmental Defense Center noted when announcing its lawsuit last week that the passage of SB 237, signed into law in September of this year, would require Sable Offshore to request a coastal development permit among other steps from state regulators to conduct any, "Repair, reactivation, and maintenance of an oil and gas facility, including an oil pipeline, that has been idled, inactive, or out of service for five years or more".
Those specifications only apply to plans to restart pipelines part of the Santa Ynez Unit.
Additionally, the day before the decision to transfer regulatory authority to the Department of Transportation, the County of Santa Barbara's Board of Supervisors officially voted to not transfer permits associated with Sable's restart plans.
Your News Channel reached out to Sable Offshore for more information and its response will be added to this article when it is received.
"Sable also lacks a necessary easement from State Parks to operate the pipeline in Gaviota State Park, and it lacks required permits to operate from Santa Barbara County," noted the Environmental Defense Center when reached for comment this week. "If Sable turns on this pipeline, the company will be in violation of the law and EDC will do everything it can to reverse the restart and protect public safety and the environment. It is critical that the State and Santa Barbara County step up to enforce laws protecting the environment, public health and safety, and a transparent public process."
State Parks notes Sable Offshore still needs authorization to restart oil production locally News Channel 3-12.
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