Sable Offshore Corp. has successfully petitioned federal authorities to assume regulatory authority over its Santa Barbara County oil and gas pipelines, another move in the company’s attempts to restart production.
The pipelines, including the one that burst in 2015 and caused the Refugio Oil Spill, were classified as an interstate project and overseen by federal agencies for decades. The pipelines never leave the state of California, and were transferred to state oversight in 2016.
The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) decided on Wednesday that two Santa Barbara County pipelines operated by Sable are interstate pipelines, removing them from state authority.
Sable sent a letter to PHMSA on Nov. 26 requesting that the agency consider pipelines connecting the Santa Ynez Unit to the Pentland Station Terminal in Kern County, “an interstate pipeline facility under the Pipeline Safety Act.”
In a document filed with the SEC on Wednesday, Sable provided a letter from PHMSA stating that it agreed with the determination that the pipeline falls under its authority.
PHMSA stated that, under the Pipeline Safety Act, it is empowered to prescribe and enforce minimum safety standards for pipelines.
“The PSA vests with PHMSA exclusive regulatory authority over interstate pipelines and preempts States from adopting or continuing in force safety standard for interstate pipelines,” the letter stated.
Even though PHMSA will now oversee the pipeline safety regulations, Sable will not be allowed to immediately begin using the pipeline, according to Jeremy Frankel, a staff attorney with the Environmental Defense Council.
Frankel says that Sable still needs easements from State Parks before it can restart the pipeline, which has been shut down since 2015. He said there is also an injunction in place, a federal consent decree, and other state and local authorizations.
“We are considering our options for how to respond to PHMSA’s transfer of jurisdiction, but should Sable try to restart, it would be doing so unlawfully,” Frankel said.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) said that it was notified on Dec. 17 that PHMSA would assume regulatory authority of Lines CA-324 & CA-325 moving forward. Those were previously known as Lines 901 and 903 under previous owner Plains All-American Pipeline.
Sable assumed ownership of the Santa Ynez Unit in 2024, which includes offshore oil platforms, an onshore processing facility, and transportation pipelines for taking the oil and gas to refineries. The Texas-based company has been working to restart production, which was halted by authorities after the pipeline rupture and oil spill.
Sable had previously submitted restart plans for the pipelines to the OSFM and was waiting for approval. It has also been working on its pipelines, allegedly without the necessary permits, and requested to transfer permits from the previous owners.
The pipelines have been under the authority of the OSFM due to a court decree stemming from the Refugio Oil Spill, according to Daniel Villaseñor, the deputy secretary for communications for the California Natural Resources Agency.
“The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is asserting these lines are within their jurisdiction and will assume regulatory authority of the lines going forward, and that the Office of the State Fire Marshal no longer has any role to play in keeping Californians safe from potential problems with these pipelines,” Villaseñor said. “The (State of California) is reviewing PHMSA’s new action and evaluating next steps.”
