Sable Offshore Corp has issued a furious statement after a California judge ruled it did not have the right to start pumping black gold again in Santa Barbara County.
The oil giant vowed to fight the “show-cause” process in court next month and pointed out it had been given the green light to reopen by the president.
Judge Donna Geck of the Santa Barbara Superior Court said last week a state injunction on the gas giant was still in place, blocking it from restarting and handing a win to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Jeffrey Dintzer, attorney for Sable Offshore, told the California Post: “We’re disappointed that the court chose not to rescind the order.
“But we intend to fully participate in the show-cause process that the court has set up or is setting up.” He was referring to a May 22 hearing for whether Sable should be held in contempt of court.
Dintzer continued: “We hopefully will convince the court that the executive order obviously supersedes the state courts’ injunction.”
“The pipeline is still operational, and we are continuing to pump crude through the Santa Ynez system pursuant to the order of Secretary Wright who is authorized by the president.”
Last week Geck handed over a massive win for green groups and Governor Newsom where she effectively ruled Sable was breaking state law.
Talia Nimmer, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Santa Barbara Independent: “Every day that oil’s flowing through these pipelines means that Sable is in violation of the court’s preliminary injunction order.”
Back in March, Trump signed an executive order to resume oil drilling operations off the Southern California coast, citing national energy security concerns.
The order invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act, stemming from concerns of limited oil supply from the US war with Iran.
In response to the order, Sable Offshore resumed operations near Santa Barbara at its Santa Ynez offshore oil platform and pipeline.
The pipeline was shuttered in 2015 after a spill released thousands of barrels of crude into the Pacific Ocean.
The Santa Ynez pipeline restart “marks a 15% increase in California’s in-state oil production, which will replace almost 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude oil each month,” according to the Department of Energy.
Environmentalists and anti-Trump Democrats furiously claimed that Trump’s order was “illegal” and that any restart needed approval by state regulators. They sought the temporary injunction, granted in February.
Sable Offshore argued that Trump’s order under the Defense Production Act bypassed the court injunction. Geck in Friday’s ruling disagreed.
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