Overview
- Environmental groups petitioned the Ninth Circuit to stay a PHMSA emergency special permit allowing use of Lines CA-324 and CA-325.
- PHMSA approved Sable Offshore’s restart plans and on December 23 issued an emergency permit that adds enhanced integrity management and operating conditions.
- Federal regulators determined the lines are interstate and took over oversight, removing the California Office of the State Fire Marshal from the restart process.
- Santa Barbara County supervisors denied transferring local permits on December 16, though Sable says the decision does not affect its operation of SYU facilities or plans to resume oil sales.
- Sable faces separate California Attorney General civil claims and Santa Barbara District Attorney criminal charges, and it carries a $622 million ExxonMobil loan tied to getting SYU oil to market; Line CA-324 ruptured in 2015 in the Refugio spill.