Center for Biological Diversity Sues Trump Administration over Santa Barbara Offshore Oil Operations

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Foundation sued a member of the Trump administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on April 2 over their alleged failure to abide by federal regulations regarding the potential restart of the Santa Ynez Unit — three offshore oil platforms and oil pipelines off the Santa Barbara coast. Sable Offshore has been working for over a year to get the oil drilling and production system back up and running after a large oil spill in 2015 under then-owner, Plains All American Pipeline, shut down operations.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump-appointed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and its Pacific Regional Director, Douglas Boren, are not complying with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which requires Sable to revise its development and production plans for oil operations on and off the Gaviota coast.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) claims that BOEM has non-discretionary mandates that outline when an oil company must revise its development and production plans. The triggers include “when operations would result in a significant increase in the volume of oil and gas production, an increase in air pollution that exceeds the amounts specified in an approved plan, or a significant increase in water pollution.”

Under Plains’s ownership, the Santa Ynez Unit produced an average of 34,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day before the shut-in, according to one of Sable’s investor presentations. Sable intends to start around there and gradually increase its production to more than 50,000 barrels per day.

“The review mandated by law is not happening and has never happened,” said Kristen Monsell, a CBD attorney. “The situation now is vastly different than when the plans were originally approved” in the 1970s and 1980s.

The suit has some parallels to a June 2024 suit filed by the CBD against similar parties, including naming the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a defendant, then Debra Haaland. However, the first suit alleges that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) rubber-stamped offshore lease extensions for ExxonMobil, which owned the platforms and pipelines before Sable, without conducting legally required environmental review. BSEE has since agreed to conduct an environmental assessment on Sable’s project. Under the current conditions, Sable would still be allowed to restart oil production — assuming compliance with other regulatory agencies — while BSEE conducts its assessment. ExxonMobil will be able to reacquire the assets if Sable does not get the Santa Ynez Unit back online by March 2026 — an extension of their previous January 2026 deadline.

Wednesday’s lawsuit also includes allegations of recent safety incidents on the offshore platforms, including a leak of hydraulic fluid in October and an electrical incident resulting in an arc flash in November.

“Both lawsuits involve the federal government’s failure to properly manage offshore oil and gas drilling at the Santa Ynez Unit,” said Monsell. 

“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reaffirms its unwavering commitment to manage development of the U.S. Continental Shelf energy, mineral, and geological resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way, while prioritizing fiscal responsibility for the American people,” said John Romero, a spokesperson for BOEM. “Our policy is to not comment on litigation.”

Sable Offshore was not able to provide a statement by press time.

With President Trump promising to “drill, baby, drill,” this lawsuit is just a drop in the pond of what promises to be an action-packed oil saga across the United States.