A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge rejected a motion to lift an injunction for the restart of the offshore platforms known as the Santa Ynez Unit and the Las Flores Pipelines on Feb. 27. That same day, Sable Offshore, the company aiming to restart the pipeline, clarified in a press release that, while it restarted production last May, the oil is being stored and has not been sold commercially.
Local environmental groups have long opposed the pipeline’s restart due to a 2015 pipeline rupture. Nexus File Photo
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation first filed the injunction request last June following Sable’s May restart. Local environmental groups have long opposed the pipeline’s restart due to a 2015 pipeline rupture that resulted in the Refugio Oil Spill, which resulted in 100,000 gallons of crude oil being spilled into the ocean.
“This oil pipeline has such a checkered history that it shouldn’t be restarted without the utmost scrutiny,” CBD Senior Counsel Julie Teel Simmonds said in a press release. “If Sable says a restart is coming, we’ll absolutely use the 10 days required by the injunction to make sure all laws have been followed to keep wildlife and the coast safe.”
The preliminary injunction is a part of the organization’s pending lawsuit against the Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM). Other lawsuits brought by other organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Center, have also challenged the pipeline system’s restart.
Environmental groups have demanded thorough environmental reviews of the pipeline before its restart, as pipeline corrosion caused the 2015 rupture. The judge’s ruling also discussed whether the federal government oversees the pipeline.
In early December 2025, Sable argued that its onshore pipeline is an interstate pipeline facility, deeming it within federal oversight. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration approved the company’s restart plan later that month. The new ruling asserts that, per a federal consent decree signed after the Refugio Oil Spill, the pipeline cannot restart without a state waiver from the OSFM.
“While Sable now argues that it is not a party to the proceedings in which the Federal Consent Decree was entered, Sable’s authority to operate the Las Flores Pipelines derives from rights obtained by Plains, for which Plains was, and remains, subject to conditions including conditions set forth in the Federal Consent Decree,” the ruling states.
On the day the injunction was upheld, Sable released its 2025 report. Since the short production restart, the oil has been transported to storage tanks at the Las Flores Canyon processing facility. The release concluded by stating there is “no assurance” that Sable will get the permits necessary to recommence oil sales.
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the March 5, 2026 edition of the Daily Nexus.
Sable Offshore (SOC) stock soared over 37% today alone as investor sentiment was fueled by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) opinion that a presidential order could preempt California laws currently impeding Sable.
It will be interesting to see how this issue plays out in the courts this coming year.
I certainly will be watching intently with increased interest!
As of early March 2026, California state courts have already indicated that federal intervention is not sufficient to override state environmental and safety regulations. This legal battle is moving to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will determine if federal jurisdiction truly supersedes state authority in this specific scenario. While the DOJ opinion provides a legal framework for the Trump administration to attempt to bypass a California law, it is not binding on the courts. The argument faces a high hurdle in federal appellate courts. I am of the opinion that the current SOC stock price is standing on… Read more »
9am MST:
SOC @$15.08/share—up 9% so far for the day:
Talk about “emotional exuberance” (to coin an Alan Greenspan’s term)!
This price won’t hold in the coming months, even though the price of oil is now
over $90/barrel. This stock will soon become a prime candidate for “shorting.”
4:26pm MST (AH):
SOC @$14.30/share—the irrational emotional exuberance has since leveled off…
Short percentage of float (current): 36.3%
High short interest (typically above 20%) can indicate significant bearish sentiment.
I wonder when the 9th Circuit is going to issue its ruling.
The 9th Circuit ruling is expected in July, 2026.
Benchmark recently downgraded the stock to “Hold” due to ongoing regulatory and legal uncertainty. The company reported a $410 million net loss for 2025 and currently carries a heavy debt load of approximately $921 million.
I argue that Sable’s net loss and nearly $1 billion in debt render the firm financially incapable of managing potential environmental disasters, posing a significant risk to the Santa Barbara coastline and California’s taxpayers.
Oil prices soar above $100/barrel as war escalates in Iran. I really feel sorry for the people pumping gas in California. At these prices, it pays to own a hybrid, especially since California is losing some of its refining capacity. Trump now says it’s “possible” he’ll put American boots on the ground in Iran. The Strait of Hormuz is now closed. China gets 80% of its oil through that chokepoint. How long is this war really going to last before it really starts to take a substantial toll on the American economy? Will Trump eventually “chicken out” on this one… Read more »
The cost of shipping goods by air from Asia to Europe is up 45% since the war began.
The world’s busiest airport in Dubai has been shut down indefinitely.
7:30pm MST-Sunday, March 8th:
Crude oil now up over $117/barrel on the world market.
Dow futures down 1200.00.
Great Britain has as little as two days’ worth of gas stored up. They will be hit the hardest in Europe first.
Desalinization plants throughout the region are major targets for Iranian drones in the coming weeks ahead. If any of these major ones are hit hard, there may be pressure put on the US to end these hostilities.
The war has been transformative for Russian oil exports—it has thus become highly sought after and a massive windfall for Putin’s war machine.
Goldman Sachs bank warned that the price of oil could jump to as much as $150/barrel by the end of March!
1:45pm MST- Monday, March 9th:
Now Trump says that the war is almost over and the markets have since responded accordingly. What substantively has really been accomplished to date? Iran is now more entrenched in its own Islamic hierarchical theocracy with the establishment of its new
Supreme Leader. More importantly, the regime change over its 90 million people has not occurred. Eight US servicemen to date have thus died in vain! And the insanity continues
in full force, inexorably, with no let up.
Only one in four Americans supports Operation Epic Fury! Can you now see why, owing to the utter incompetence of the American leader? He has unleashed a Pandora’s box of unknown consequences and unbridled chaos and there is no way out. He has also fractured irreparably his MAGA base.
Notice how Trump lies about the bombing of the 165 school children and still tries to blame this act on Iran!
Ayatollah Ali Khomeini dies a martyr. That fate will benefit his son in the coming ongoing mythology of the regime.
The very first commandment given to the Israelites as a nation just before the exodus was the sanctification of the new moon (Exodus 12:2). A lunar eclipse (not a solar one) occurred during the night of Christ’s crucifixion.
Astronomical data confirms a partial lunar eclipse (“blood moon”) was visible from Jerusalem on the evening of Friday, April 3, A.D. 33, a date supported by many scholars for the Crucifixion. The eclipse occurred after moonrise, aligning with Acts 2:20, which mentions the moon turning to blood. There just occurred a lunar eclipse in the heavens just a few days ago. Could this be a harbinger (good or bad) of things to come? We shall all soon see!
The lesson of Rosh Chodesh is thus not only renewal, but also removal. In order to be truly whole, we must become (like the new moon) completely empty. We must peel away all of the veils and garments that cover and conceal that spark of Godliness that is at our core.
The preeminent Nexustential question of the night remains: What is the fate of the Strait of Hormuz in the coming weeks?
Iran is winning this war because it is Trump’s, not America’s!
Oil shock to worsen should US-Israel seize Iran’s Kharg Island, JP Morgan says.
10:51am (PDT)-Tuesday, March 10th:
A 2.9 magnitude temblor strikes (4) miles SE of Carpinteria, Ca.
Will the Sable Offshore platform be the one hit next by a significant quake?
Stay tuned. It looks like the Ventura Pitas-Point faultline is moving here ever so slightly
influencing this latest seismic event. See: santabarbaria.com for more info.
One can clearly see that the focal mechanism (beach-ball schematic) of this latest event is directly influenced by the Ventura-Pitas Point faultline running parallel some (15) miles to the south. See: usgs.gov. and analyze this for yourself. Prove to me otherwise!
Recent reports indicate that California Governor Newsom has found “solace in Stoicism,” a Greek and Roman philosophy espoused by Marcu Aurelius’ “Meditations.” After battling the state for the past (50+) years, I too, find solace herein—Nature always bats last. The two of us just simply differ somewhat on our own each individual political calculus. Which political derivative shall be leveraged for optimum results? I shall live to see this answer come to its full resplendent
fruition, that I am certain. What can go wrong will go wrong.
It’s the simple law of entropy in a chaotic universe inexorably marching forward.
Iran signaling it may deploy mines to disrupt Strait of Hormuz.
Iran tells world to get ready for oil @$200/barrel as it fires on merchant ships.
2:37pm (PDT)- Wednesday, March 11th: A 1.6 temblor occurs this time right on the Ventura Pitas-Point fault line some 1.40 miles down! Funny, I was just mentioning this major fault line, wasn’t I?! This is, without question, an instance to all the world of the power of “Cosmic Synchronicity”! Allah is great! Yahweh is great! The Christian God is great also! Why are there such ongoing divisions today as to the semantics, and indeed, the polemics of God? Can’t the world now see that God resides in his heavenly abode in the 11th dimensional brane, permeating via the graviton through… Read more »
This fact should now prove to the world that I can be, at times, indeed, the authentic Tolen Marr of my fictional portrayal in the Sunset Diaries: Future Nostalgia (previous Daily Nexus article) found on Google: Michael W. Reilly-Daily Nexus.
Expensive oil changes the calculus. It accelerates the relative attractiveness of dematerialized products and services. It makes renewable energy, which has near-zero marginal fuel costs, look dramatically better against fossil alternatives.
It incentivizes the kind of circular economic thinking that the green transition requires.
A world of persistently higher resource costs is more likely to generate the innovation incentives and goes easier on the physical environment.
The world does not have enough ammo for the Iran war!
Estimates have put the figure at upwards of 6,000 naval mines in Iran’s stockpile!
There is a good chance that the objectives of this war will change in a way suited to Christian nationalists’ beliefs!
Governor Newsom confirms FBI warning of potential Iranian drone strike in California.