Who knew an oil pipeline in little ol’ Santa Barbara County could be on the national political radar?
The Trump administration is weighing in on Sable Offshore Corporation’s battle to get the Santa Ynez Unit, its affiliated offshore oil rigs, and a corroded pipeline up and running. On X—formerly known as Twitter—no less.
Actually, it’s not just political peeps focused on us. It’s celebrities too! On one side we’ve got Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jane Fonda screaming about Big Oil and protecting the environment because they “smell a rat” when it comes to Sable. On the other we’ve got golfer Phil Mickelson threatening to have a town hall about Sable because apparently he’s an expert on energy!
“I will meet you anytime and anyplace,” he wrote on X. “Let’s discuss this openly so the public knows the facts.”
I wonder what facts Mickelson plans to bring to the table. How petroleum helps golfers have a better swing?
Celebrities weighing in on this particular issue aren’t going to help the conversation be more level-headed. Having a Trump minion weigh in is most certainly not going to help tamp down any rhetoric. It’s all just so amped up!
In between all the posts aimed at blaming Democrats for the government shutdown, Energy Secretary Chris Wright took the time to blame Gov. Gavin Newsom for “blocking oil production off California’s coast from reaching their own refineries, driving gasoline prices even higher for Californians!”
We are flattered he thought of us!
On Oct. 15, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ruled against Sable, which sued the California Coastal Commission over an $18 million fine it levied against the Houston-based oil company in April for doing work on the pipeline without the proper permits. In his ruling, the judge stated that had the work that Sable completed in such a short time at 121 different sites been carried out over several years, the company wouldn’t have needed any special permits.
“Doing all of that work in the space of a few months has a cumulative effect of a substantially increased intensity of use of the land that is more consistent with ‘reconstruction’ than maintenance ‘construction,’” the judge wrote in his ruling.
Sable CEO Jim Flores described the ruling as disappointing in a memo to investors. Duh! But don’t worry, he added, the company is still going to restart the Santa Ynez Unit. That’s what the company’s been saying all along as it rams its hopes and dreams into reality, rules and regulations be damned.
Resuming oil production he said, would help solve the “state’s crumbling energy complex” and lower gas prices for residents. Hmm. I’m not sure about that. With all the fines Sable’s starting to rack up and all the money it’s spending to go around the state’s agencies and end up in court instead, those production costs are starting to pile up before oil drilling has even restarted.
I guess the big plan to thwart California’s oil policy is to simply not come ashore at all. Sounds like an oil disaster waiting to happen.
Sable told investors that it could use shuttle tankers in federal waters to get its oil from the oil rigs to a refinery somewhere—probably not California, though.
The Canary is sick of the rhetoric and ready for reason. Send common sense to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 23 – Oct 30, 2025.