LOS ANGELES (KEYT) – On Thursday, a federal judge granted a request by environmental groups to disclose records generated by the Trump Administration regarding a restart of oil production locally.
"The Court ORDERS Federal Defendants to complete the record with all external agency communications— including but not limited to all records of correspondence, emails, chats, meeting notes, memos—regarding the Santa Ynez Unit between April 19, 2024, and May 29, 2025, the date that BSEE [U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement] issued its 2025 Decision on the lease extensions for the Santa Ynez Unit," stated a decision by U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams on Thursday. "This shall include all external communications directly and indirectly considered by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in connection with its 2025 Decision and Environmental Assessment/ Finding of No Significant Impact (EA/FONSI) on the lease extensions for the Santa Ynez Unit."
Thursday's court order requires the federal agency to comply with the records release within 60 days.
In 2024, court documents show that Sable secured a $622,000,000 loan from ExxonMobil to fund the purchase of offshore and onshore oil production infrastructure that is collectively referred to as the Santa Ynez Unit.
The entire Santa Ynez Unit was shut down after pipeline Line 901, now known as Line CA-324, ruptured in May of 2015, spilling at least 100,000 gallons of crude oil that impacted 150 miles of California coastline.
In June of 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Foundation sued the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement after the federal agency extended leases for the Santa Ynez Unit required to restart oil production.
The environmental groups argued that the federal government failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act when it failed to conduct legally required environmental review nor a proper national-interest determination.
Plaintiffs requested a summary judgement from the District Judge on their claims instead of heading to trial, but in late May of 2025, the federal government reconsidered its lease extensions at the Santa Ynez Unit and prepared an Environmental Assessment and a Finding of No Significant Impact
"BSEE conducted a Categorical Exclusion Review (CER) of Exxon’s October 2023 lease extension request to resume production," stated the federal Environmental Assessment issued in May of 2025. "[T]his Environmental Assessment serves to provide a more indepth analysis of the environmental impacts associated with the lease extension request."
That environmental review and the communications amongst federal regulators as well as between the Trump Administration and the new owner of the Santa Ynez Unit, Houston-based Sable Offshore, were not shared with the plaintiffs nor entered into the public record, but were referenced in provided materials.
In response, the plaintiffs in the case requested those materials and federal courts agreed, granting that request on Thursday noting that, "documents regarding the speed at which BSEE was directed to complete its analysis are relevant to the question of whether the review was lawfully completed" as well as, "Plaintiffs provide emails demonstrating that more communications between BSEE and Sable exist concerning activities necessary to restart operations at the Santa Ynez Unit, including inspections, hydrotesting, and scheduling".
District Judge Williams concluded, "The Court finds the level of detail provided in Plaintiffs' evidence adequate, particularly given that the missing items are the agency's own communications, cabined tothe relevant time frame (April 19, 2024 through May 29, 2025), and concern documents BSEE likely considered in reaching its 2025 Decision and EA/FONSI [Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact]."
"The Trump administration must give us any records that reveal political meddling in decisions that enable the restart of dangerous drilling off California," argued Kristen Monsell, Oceans Legal Director and Senior Attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the involved parties in the suit. "It looks like the agency may have tried to paper over its unlawful decisions with a fast-tracked environmental review, and we need full transparency of what was going on behind closed doors. California's coast is on the line if this drilling unit restarts, and protecting ocean wildlife shouldn’t come down to politics."
Environmental groups may have won a victory here regarding oversight of the decision-making process within the U.S. Department of the Interior, but a U.S. Department of Justice opinion issued last week argued that the Trump Administration can use the Defense Production Act of 1950 to circumvent state and federal law to restart oil production citing a national security imperative.
"[S]ection 4511 [of the Defense Production Act of 1950] authorizes the President to control the distribution of materials, services, and facilities, and to require entities to prioritize the performance of some contracts over others, as 'necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense' or 'to maximize domestic energy supplies'." noted the Justice Department opinion. "[T]he DPA makes explicit that orders issued pursuant to the Act displace state-law liability. It provides that "[n]o person shall be held liable for damages or penalties for any act or failure to act resulting directly or indirectly from compliance with a rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant to this chapter."
Liability is not just an abstract aspect of the claims by environmental groups.
In September of last year, Sable Offshore submitted a Request for Approval of Restart Plans, which involved the onshore pipelines, to the California Office of State Fire Marshal, the state agency responsible for restart plans since 2015 in accordance with the consent decree agreed to by the previous owner of the pipelines after the Refugio Oil Spill of 2015.
The state safety regulator found that there were still outstanding steps required before approving restart the following month.
Instead of meeting the requested actions, Sable Offshore instead informed investors in December of last year that it had determined that pipelines connecting the onshore oil processing plant on the Gaviota Coast to Pentland Station in Kern County are technically interstate pipelines 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.
The Department of Transportation's pipeline safety regulator argued that the restart plans were subject to emergency permitting based on a national energy emergency declared by President Trump last year which could bypass normal regulatory steps.
Last week's Justice Department opinion on liability extended beyond the existence of any future decision authorizing the restart of oil production arguing that, "Such immunity from liability exists even when the related DPA [Defense Production Act of 1950] rule, regulation, or order is subsequently 'declared by judicial or other competent authority to be invalid'".
"[A] finding of necessity is likely immune from judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") and other statutes, even if the Secretary [of Energy] makes the determination by exercising delegated presidential power," added the Department of Justice slip memo.
The Justice Department opinion did hedge its argument stating that, "the precise preemptive scope of a presidential order would depend upon the language employed in relation to the obligations imposed by state law. We cannot opine on the preemptive reach of an order not yet drafted."
"Even in these unprecedented times, this abuse of executive power would be staggering," shared Environmental Defense Center's Chief Counsel Linda Krop regarding the Justice Department memorandum. "The federal administration is threatening to prop up a company that has flouted the law and failed to make necessary repairs identified by state regulators."
"Anyone who cares about state sovereignty, law and order, and our environment should be outraged," added Krop.
Your News Channel reached out to Sable Offshore and its representatives as well as the U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement for more information about today's decision and their respective responses will be added to this article when they are received.
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