The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Friday dismissed a lawsuit aimed at halting oil and gas operations in the Santa Barbara Channel, securing a major legal victory for Sable Offshore Corp.’s Santa Ynez Unit.
The case, Center for Biological Diversity v. Burgum, challenged an April 2025 decision by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). That decision concluded Sable did not need to revise its existing development and production plan for the offshore unit under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
Environmental groups filed suit to force the bureau to mandate a revised plan, but the court rejected the effort entirely.
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In its dismissal, the court ruled that the plaintiffs’ claimed procedural injury lacked a statutory basis, could not be traced back to any action by BOEM, and could not be fixed by a court order. Additionally, the court noted a fundamental flaw in the lawsuit: the plaintiffs cited a legal provision governing the initial approval of a development plan, rather than the revision of a plan that is already in place.
Department of Justice officials backed the ruling, framing it as a strict adherence to recent legal precedents.
“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.”
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The legal victory solidifies operations that are already well underway. Under a Defense Production Act order issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright on March 13, Sable Offshore was required to immediately restart petroleum transportation through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System.
The pipeline is currently moving approximately 30,000 barrels of oil per day to California markets. Production volumes are projected to double, reaching 60,000 barrels per day.
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