Judge upholds injunction against Sable Offshore
A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge on April 17 refused to end an injunction preventing Sable Offshore Corp. from restarting its Central Coast pipeline without required approvals.
Judge Donna Geck’s ruling comes a month after Houston-based Sable restarted oil production at its Santa Ynez Unit in federal waters off Santa Barbara County’s coast at the direction of the Trump Administration.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued his restart order on March 13, outraging state officials and environmental groups.
Geck rejected Sable’s argument that Wright’s order allows the company to ignore laws or court orders that get in its way of producing oil, according to the Environmental Defense Center, the Santa Barbara-based nonprofit law firm leading opposition to the Sable project.
There is a binding federal court order giving the state of California the final say over the restart of Sable’s pipeline, the EDC said.
Sable is expected to appeal Geck’s ruling
The Santa Ynez Unit had been turned off since one of its pipelines ruptured on May 19, 2015, spilling more than 2,900 barrels of heavy crude oil onto private property, Refugio State Beach and into the Pacific Ocean.
