On March 23, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy for ordering a restart of oil operations at the Santa Ynez Unit. “In a breathtaking power grab,” Bonta stated, “the federal executive branch has asserted that [it] may preempt and supersede all state laws governing hazardous pipelines … […]
Trump administration
Trump administration resurrects Las Flores oil pipeline
On March 14, Sable Offshore Oil Corp. began transporting oil produced at the Santa Ynez Unit through the Las Flores pipeline system, which ruptured in 2015 and spilled more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil in Refugio, to Pentland Station in Kern County. According to U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, a new executive order […]
Court rules in favor of Sable on restart plan, for now
On Dec. 31, an appeals court ruled against environmental groups’ request to stay a federal decision approving Sable Offshore Corporation’s restart plans for two oil pipelines along the Gaviota Coast. The request was part of a lawsuit the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Center, and others filed against the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety […]
Hancock, Cuesta colleges could lose funding designed to help Latino students
Of the 171 Hispanic-Serving Institutions throughout the state, two of them are right here on the Central Coast. But an executive order from the White House is now posing a threat to the funding that schools like Allan Hancock and Cuesta colleges can receive from the grant program. On Aug. 25, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla […]

