Santa Barbara judge issues key ruling that puts California offshore oil project at risk

A California judge has ruled Sable Offshore Corp. — the company Donald Trump is using to give the state an oil lifeline — did not have the authority to restart its operations.

Judge Donna Geck of the Santa Barbara Superior Court said a state injunction on the gas giant blocking its operations from restarting is still in place, handing a win to environmental groups and Gavin Newsom.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office. AP

“A California court just confirmed what we have said all along: Trump and his Big Oil donors are not above the law,” Newsom said in a statement.

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 America’s war with Iran.

In response to the order, Sable Offshore resumed operations near Santa Barbara at its Santa Ynez offshore oil platform and pipeline.

They were 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 Offshor’s Las Flores Canyon facility in Goleta, California. Andy Johnstone for CA Post

Sable Offshore argued that Trump’s order under the Defense Production Act bypassed the court injunction. Geck in Friday’s ruling disagreed.

“Every day that oil’s flowing through these pipelines means that Sable is in violation of the court’s preliminary injunction order,” Talia Nimmer, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, told the Santa Barbara Independent.

The California Post reached out to the company’s public relations team for comment. The Post also sent an inquiry to the Department of Energy, which prodded the Santa Ynez facilities to restart.

A May 22 hearing has been set for whether Sable should be held in contempt of court, which could carry financial penalties or additional enforcement orders.

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