Oil Company Faces Legal Pushback for Attempted Restart of Santa Barbara Pipeline
July 16th, 2025 — by Bradley Reimer — Category: Offshore Energy
On June 3rd, 2025, a California court ordered the Houston-based oil company Sable Offshore Corp. (Sable) to halt the opening of the Las Flores Pipeline System in Santa Barbara, California. This is a significant blow to Sable’s attempt at revitalizing and reopening the Santa Ynez Unit (Unit), the oil platforms and pipes responsible for the 2015 Refugio oil spill.
In 2009, President George W. Bush created three marine national monuments conserving and protecting over 195,000 square miles. These designations created environmental safeguards by prohibiting commercial fishing and the extraction of natural resources within the area.
Plaintiffs sued the state of Mississippi for introducing private leasing of on-bottom oyster harvesting on public reefs. In 2023, the Mississippi Legislature passed a law to authorize the DMR to lease up to eighty percent of the state-owned reef permitted areas available.
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, limiting the scope of review of environmental impacts under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The National Sea Grant Law Center welcomes Bradley Reimer for its 2025 Community Engaged Internship (CEI)! Bradley is a Legal Studies major at the University of Mississippi.
The National Sea Grant Law Center is excited to welcome Summer Research Associate Savannah Schiebel, a graduate student at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Savannah will be working with NSGLC to complete her thesis research, focusing on aquaculture policy and marine mammal interactions.
The National Sea Grant Law Center is excited to welcome Summer Research Associate Ilinca Johnson, a 3L at Vermont Law School. Ilinca will take part in the Community Engaged Legal Internship Program, working with NSGLC and our project partners, Maine Sea Grant and The Nature Conservancy.