Challenge to Sable Pipeline in California Dismissed

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California yesterday dismissed the complaint in Center for Biological Diversity v. Burgum - one of several cases challenging Sable Offshore Corp.'s oil and gas operations at the Santa Ynez Unit in the Santa Barbara Channel.

In April 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a decision concluding that Sable was not required to revise its development and production plan for the Unit under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The plaintiffs then sued and sought a court order compelling the Bureau to require a revised plan. Instead, the court dismissed the lawsuit because the plaintiffs' asserted procedural injury had no basis in the statute, was not traceable to any action by BOEM, and could not be redressed by an order of the court. Among other problems the court identified with the plaintiffs' case, they invoked a provision of the statute that governs "approval of a development and production plan," not revision of an already-existing plan.

"This decision is a clear-eyed interpretation of federal law in keeping with the Supreme Court's instruction in Loper Bright to follow the best interpretation of statutes," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD). "Our defense of BOEM's decision supports domestic energy production in furtherance of President Donald J. Trump's directive to unleash American energy."

Sable Offshore was required to immediately resume petroleum transportation through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System pursuant to a Defense Production Act order issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright on March 13. Since then, the Unit has been transporting about 30,000 barrels of oil per day to California and is expected to reach 60,000 barrels per day.

Attorneys with ENRD's Natural Resources Section handled this matter.