Months after receiving approval from President Donald J. Trump’s administration to restart oil production through the Santa Ynez Unit, Sable Offshore Corp. welcomed federal officials to its Goleta oil facility on Friday.
Later that day, in downtown Santa Barbara, environmental advocates allied against the administration’s presence and reaffirmed they will challenge the oil restart in court.
Secretary Chris Wright, the head of the U.S. Department of Energy, and Secretary Doug Burgum, head of the U.S. Department of the Interior, praised the restart during a meeting with Sable executives and staff.
Addressing a crowd of Sable employees, Wright criticized California politicians, who he said were trying to appeal to the “Chardonnay set.”
“It’s very fashionable to be adamantly against common sense,” he said. “To say ‘no, we shouldn’t produce existing oil in California through existing infrastructures… No, instead we prefer to import that oil from Iraq and Indonesia and Ecuador and from abroad. We prefer to make gasoline and diesel and all energy in California massively more expensive.'”
Wright continued by saying President Trump used the Defense Production Act to “benefit the lives of Californians.”
Trump invoked the act to allow Sable to restart oil production on March 13, despite the corporation not receiving state of California approval.
The order allowed Sable to begin oil production through the Santa Ynez Unit, which includes three offshore oil platforms, a processing facility, and transportation pipelines.
Sable purchased the pipeline from ExxonMobil in 2024.
One of the pipelines connected to the unit ruptured in 2015. Roughly 123,000 gallons of oil spilled onto the Gaviota coastline and into the ocean in what became known as the Refugio oil spill.
After purchasing the unit, Sable was required to obtain approval from the Office of the State Fire Marshal before it could restart the facilities.
Sable had not received that state approval at the time of the restart.
Wright defended the current price of gas, calling it a temporary cost necessary to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities.
He also claimed that the high cost of gas in states represented by Democrats is permanent, burdens families, and forces businesses to cut jobs.
“We want to make that unfashionable in America,” Wright said. “President Trump wants common sense on energy, common sense desire for more job opportunities (with) higher wages and lower costs. That’s why we’re here to celebrate.”
Burgum, who previously served as the governor of North Dakota, highlighted the economic gains created by energy policies in his home state.
North Dakota has expanded its wind power infrastructure. It is the third-largest oil producer in the nation, with 1.2 million barrels per day in 2024. The state has also pioneered the technology to capture and store carbon.
While Burgum described North Dakota as an “energy powerhouse,” he claimed that some states were going too far in their turn toward “unreliable, intermittent, weather-dependent, foreign-sourced electricity.”
In Santa Barbara on State Street, local environmental groups quickly gathered to respond to the officials and their comments with a protest outside the Community Environmental Center’s Environmental Hub.
The protest drew about 100 people on Friday evening, many of them dressed in red and carrying signs criticizing Sable or the restart.
Linda Krop, the chief counsel for the Environmental Defense Center, accused the officials of hiding away up the coast and only talking to Sable executives.
Krop told the crowd that Sable is still subject to a state injunction against a restart and is violating it by operating the pipeline.
“Why would the feds come to support a company like that?” Krop said. “Well, this is what happens when you deal with a Trump administration, and you put them together with a company like Sable. They don’t care what the laws are. They don’t care what the judges say.”
She said the company is still facing felony charges brought by the State Attorney General and others by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office.
The California Coastal Commission has also fined Sable for unpermitted work in the Coastal Zone.
Krop later confirmed that a lawsuit filed against Sable by the EDC and other groups will be heard on Monday.
The case was originally filed in state court. It was moved to federal court last month, just before Sable was due to appear before a judge on contempt allegations, per Krop.
She said the court will decide if the case should return to state jurisdiction or remain at the federal level.
Assemblymember Gregg Hart also reaffirmed his commitment to defending California’s coastline, saying that decisions about California’s coasts should be made by residents, not federal officials or companies that circumvent state laws.
Hart also criticized the news that the president is considering invoking the Defense Production Act again to help the coal industry and build an export terminal in Oakland.
Hart stated that coal will not help drive down gas prices for California residents.
“None of this makes sense,” Hart said. “We are determined to stay the course to fight back on all of this craziness and protect our community and protect California from a federal government that is out of control.”
