Company can pump oil off Santa Barbara coast, judge rules

August 22, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

A federal judge ruled this week that Sable Offshore can continue extracting oil off the coast of Santa Barbara, and pumping it through a pipeline, under a Trump administration emergency order. The ruling removed state oversight, which was transferred to federal officials.

Even though California no longer has regulatory authority over the pipeline, Sable is required to share biannual reports with the state, the judge ruled.

In addition, the judge fined Sable $1.4 million for failing to comply with a consent decree that required Sable to attain state approvals before restarting pumping.

In 2015, a pipe owned by Plains All American Pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, causing more than 100,000 gallons of oil to spill. About 21,000 gallons flowed into a culvert and then into a ditch that drains to the ocean.

In 2024, Sable purchased the pipeline, three offshore platforms and a processing facility, and subsequently made repairs to the corroded pipeline.

For more than a year, state and federal regulators have battled over the reopening of the Santa Ynez pipeline, which is needed to transport the oil extracted off the coast of Santa Barbara. While the State Fire Marshal argued Sable had not yet completed all of the repairs necessary to restart the pipeline, federal regulators claimed they had jurisdictional control.

In May 2025, Sable resumed oil production in federal waters offshore of Santa Barbara County. It started extracting oil from one of three platforms that had been closed since the 2015 spill.

In January, President Donald Trump directed Sable to resume oil production off the coast of Santa Barbara under the Defense Production Act. Sable had been prevented from producing oil because of disagreements over permitting its Santa Ynez pipeline.

Sable is slated to produce approxamatly 50,000 barrels of oil per day, “a 15% increase to California’s in-state oil production, that can replace nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month,” according to the Department of Energy.

Environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, have criticized the offshore oil production restart, citing risks to sensitive habitats and species. It is expected that environmental groups and state officials will continue to battle against offshore oil extraction.

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