SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Sable Offshore and environmental advocacy groups were in court Wednesday when the Houston-based energy company admitted that dormant onshore pipelines have not been restarted, opening them up to state regulatory oversight.
A federal judge heard arguments from both sides during a status conference Wednesday and agreed to let the injunction preventing restart stand until parties return to court on Feb. 27.
During the proceedings, representatives of Sable Offshore characterized pipelines that connect the company's three offshore platforms, both offshore ones that connect to the Las Flores Canyon refinement facility and onshore pipelines that connect that facility all the way to Pentland Station in Kern County, as active and part of a singular unit.
When pressed if onshore pipelines were transporting oil, Sable Offshore admitted that they were not.
That distinction matters.
Because onshore pipelines were not restarted before Jan. 1, 2026, a new state law requires Sable Offshore to apply for a Coastal Development Permit before restarting them to transport oil.
The new state law, SB 237, signed into law in September of 2025, would require Sable Offshore to request a coastal development permit among other steps from the California Coastal Commission 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 onshore pipelines in Santa Barbara County, including Line CA-324, formerly known as Line 901, which has been 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.
"Ever since a catastrophic oil spill at Refugio Beach in 2015 led to a court-ordered consent decree, CAL FIRE - Office of the State Fire Marshal has been responsible for overseeing the repair of the lines that caused the spill, which are now operated by Sable Offshore Corp in Santa Barbara County," shared Daniel Villaseñor with the California Natural Resources Agency.
After Sable Offshore submitted official paperwork to restart oil production with the California Office of State Fire Marshal (OSFM) in September, the state-based safety agency responded the next month that there were still unmet conditions before an official restart.
In response to those pipeline safety concerns, Sable Offshore informed investors that it had determined that the pipelines connecting the Santa Ynez Unit to Pentland Station in Kern County are technically an interstate pipeline under the Pipeline Safety Act and requested that federal regulators take over its restart plans involving the pipelines.
The Department of Transportation agreed with the energy company's assessment and promptly asserted its authority over restart plans in mid-December.
"The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is asserting these lines are within their jurisdiction and will assume regulatory authority of the lines going forward, and that the Office of the State Fire Marshal no longer has any role to play in keeping Californians safe from potential problems with these pipelines," explained Villaseñor after the announcement.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration argued that the restart plans were subject to emergency permits and based on a national energy emergency declared by President Trump earlier this year which could bypass normal regulatory requirements.
"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," announced the Department of Transportation when issuing 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."
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit to block the decision in federal court which ultimately decided to not immediately halt the restart plan approval, but the court did grant that the lawsuit would receive expedited processing and plaintiff's opening brief is due later this month.
"Rushing to restart this failed pipeline without following basic federal safety laws and without even making the necessary repairs poses an immediate threat to lives, property, and the environment across a large part of our state," explained the Environmental Defense Center's Chief Counsel Linda Krop, one of the petitioners in the Dec. 24 lawsuit. "We can’t allow the Trump administration and Sable to undermine California law and gamble with the safety of everyone living along the pipeline route."
During the flurry of approvals and litigation in late December, the California Coastal Commission noted that it had not waived its right under the Coastal Zone Management Act to review the federal regulator's decision to reclassify pipelines and assume authority over restart plans.
The state regulator added that the federal government's expedited approval is also subject to review of compliance under Subpart E of the Coastal Zone Management Act, through the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as Appendix D of the Consent Decree in U.S. et al v. Plains All American Pipeline, LP and Plains Pipeline, a court decision agreed to after the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill.
The Coastal Commission's insistence on a 30-day review period joins another state agencies noting that the restart process still has outstanding steps.
According to California State Parks, an easement for Gaviota State Park is necessary to restart production and has not been granted for CA-2325 which runs through the state agency's jurisdiction.
In fact, of the 22 detected pipeline anomalies that required repair work back in May of 2025, 18 were within the broders of Gaviota State Park, shown as the blue circles on the left side of the image below along Line 325a which is the green line.
During Tuesday's court proceedings, Sable Offshore argued that the offshore and onshore pipelines have been active since May of 2025.
Public claims made back in May by Sable Offshore and the Trump Administration about already restarting oil production may have violated leases issued by the California State Lands Commission.
"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."
The energy company walked back those restart claims to 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."
Getting oil to market isn't just tied to promises to investors, Sable's purchase of the entire oil-generating system from ExxonMobil back in February of 2024, has a crucial deadline.
Court documents revealed that Sable secured a $622,000,000 loan from Exxon to fund the purchase of the local oil production infrastructure which has a stipulated deadline where ownership would revert back to ExxonMobil unless oil from the Santa Ynez Unit under Sable's management enters the market.
In addition to that financial deadline, the latest update about the need for a costal development permit, and the easement from State Parks, 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."
Further complicating Sable's restart plans was the decision by the County of Santa Barbara's Board of Supervisors to not transfer permits the day before the Department of Transportation publicly shared that it had taken over oversight of the restart process.
"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 about its ongoing legal challenge to restart plans. "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."
Your News Channel reached out to Sable Offshore for comment and more information and its response will be added to this article when it is received.
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