A federal judge on Aug. 19 granted Sable Offshore Corp. a key win in its effort to restart two long-idled California oil pipelines, while also narrowing efforts to enforce a 2020 consent decree tied to a 2015 spill that released more than 120,000 gallons of crude oil.
The order modified the consent decree entered in the earlier Plains All American Pipeline case, granted part of a motion to enforce it, denied a preliminary injunction sought by California, denied a motion to dismiss in a related Sable case, and sent another related challenge back to state court.
The dispute centers on the 10.7-mile CA-324 line and the 129-mile CA-325 line, which together run from the Los Flores Pump Station to the Emidio Pump Station. The pipelines were shut down after the May 19, 2015 rupture of CA-324 in Santa Barbara County, which damaged Refugio State Beach and the Pacific Ocean.
Sable acquired the pipeline system in February 2024 and agreed to be bound by the consent decree. By December 17, 2024, the California Office of the State Fire Marshal had granted the state waivers Sable needed under the decree, and on Feb. 11, 2025, PHMSA said it had no objections to those waivers.
But the restart hit a setback on Oct. 22, 2025, when the State Fire Marshal told Sable that restart was forbidden because the company had not repaired all anomalies where prior testing showed wall loss of 40% or greater. Sable disputed that reading, saying it had fixed every section that met that threshold.
The regulatory fight escalated in March 2026. PHMSA concluded the pipeline was an interstate facility under its exclusive jurisdiction, and on March 13, 2026, Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued a Pipeline Capacity Prioritization and Allocation Order directing Sable to restart the line under Defense Production Act authority. Sable restarted the pipeline shortly thereafter.
The court’s order also notes that a four-mile portion of CA-325 runs beneath Gaviota State Park, on land owned and controlled by California. That segment had been covered by a 30-year easement granted in August 1987, but the easement expired on July 17, 2016. Since then, Sable’s access has been limited to annual permits that allowed maintenance but barred restart-related activities. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 0.69% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $5.135. If you want to know more, read the company's complete 8-K report here.
