Company can pump oil off Santa Barbara coast, judge rules

A federal judge ruled this week that Sable Offshore may continue extracting oil off the Santa Barbara coast and pumping it through the Santa Ynez pipeline under a Trump administration emergency order — a decision that shifts regulatory control away from California and hands it to federal officials, according to CalCoastNews.

The ruling is the latest turn in a more-than-yearlong fight between state and federal regulators over the reopening of the pipeline, which carries crude from offshore platforms to onshore facilities. For residents of San Luis Obispo and the wider Central Coast, the decision touches on issues that hit close to home: the legacy of the 2015 Refugio oil spill, which tarred beaches just up the coast, and the question of who is accountable when energy infrastructure runs through some of California's most environmentally sensitive waters.

What the Judge Decided

The judge found that Sable may continue operations under an emergency order issued by the Trump administration, and that regulatory oversight of the pipeline — previously exercised by the state — now rests with federal officials, the CalCoastNews reported.

California has not entirely lost its window into the operation, however. Even though the state no longer holds regulatory authority over the pipeline, the judge ordered Sable to share biannual reports with state officials, according to the ruling.

The decision was not a complete win for the company. The judge fined Sable $1.4 million for failing to comply with a consent decree that had required the company to obtain state approvals before restarting the pipeline.

Background: The 2015 Spill and Sable's Purchase

The dispute has its roots in May 2015, when a pipeline owned by Plains All American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County. The break released more than 100,000 gallons of oil, and roughly 21,000 gallons flowed into a culvert and a ditch that drains to the ocean, fouling the Gaviota Coast shoreline that draws visitors from across the Central Coast, including San Luis Obispo County.

The spill idled three offshore platforms and a processing facility connected to the pipeline. In 2024, Sable Offshore purchased the pipeline system, the three platforms and the processing facility, and subsequently made repairs to the corroded pipeline.

Whether those repairs were sufficient became the crux of the legal battle. The California State Fire Marshal argued Sable had not completed all the repairs necessary to safely restart the pipeline, while federal regulators asserted they held jurisdictional control.

The Federal Intervention

In January, President Donald Trump directed Sable to resume oil production off the Santa Barbara coast under the Defense Production Act, a move that came after the company had been blocked from producing oil amid the permitting standoff over the Santa Ynez pipeline. Sable resumed production in federal waters offshore of Santa Barbara County in May 2025, drawing oil from one of the three platforms that had been shut since the 2015 spill.

The company is slated to produce approximately 50,000 barrels of oil per day — an amount the U.S. Department of Energy has described as a 15% increase to California's in-state oil production that could replace nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month.

What It Means for the Central Coast

For San Luis Obispo County residents, the ruling reverberates beyond Santa Barbara County lines. The region's economy is intertwined with the health of its coastline — tourism, fishing and recreation all depend on clean waters, and a spill anywhere along the Santa Barbara Channel can send oil and debris down the current toward SLO County beaches, as happened after the Refugio disaster.

Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, have sharply criticized the restart of offshore production, citing risks to sensitive habitats and species in the channel. The CalCoastNews reported that both environmental organizations and state officials are expected to keep fighting offshore oil extraction in the courts and through regulatory channels.

Supporters of the operation, by contrast, have pointed to the natural oil seepage that occurs in the Santa Barbara Channel and argue that extraction reduces the volume of crude entering the ocean naturally — a contention that remains debated among scientists and regulators.

What Comes Next

The fine and the reporting requirement suggest the court is trying to preserve at least a degree of accountability even as state oversight recedes. Sable must now file biannual reports with California officials, giving the state visibility — though not veto power — over pipeline operations.

Legal observers expect the broader fight over states' rights versus federal energy emergency powers to continue, with California likely to pursue further challenges. Meanwhile, oil is once again flowing through a pipeline whose 2015 failure remains one of the worst coastal spills in California history, and the Central Coast will be watching the water closely.

This story was developed with additional reporting by CalCoastNews reporter Karen Velie.