SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— A Santa Barbara Superior Court judge today rejected Sable Offshore Corp.’s request to rescind a preliminary injunction prohibiting the restart of an oil pipeline system on the California coast until and unless specific conditions were met. The company restarted the pipeline in March, despite the injunction.

Today’s ruling comes after the Trump administration issued an unprecedented order last month directing Sable to “prioritize and allocate pipeline transportation services for hydrocarbons” under the Defense Production Act. California has challenged that Trump order in federal court.

“The court made the right call keeping this injunction in place in the face of Trump officials’ shamefully authoritarian attempt to sidestep California’s laws and environmental protections,” said Talia Nimmer, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Every second this pipeline is in operation puts California’s iconic coast, its residents and its wildlife at risk of another devastating spill. Trump and his cronies won’t stop trying to prop up oil industry profits, but we’ll keep fighting to protect California’s coastal communities and hold Sable accountable.”

Sable owns the onshore pipeline system, the onshore processing and treatment facilities, the offshore pipelines, and three offshore platforms known as the Santa Ynez Unit. The company announced March 16 that it had restarted oil flowing through the pipeline system under the Trump order.

But today the Santa Barbara Superior Court judge found that Sable did so in violation of the preliminary injunction in place that remained effective notwithstanding the Defense Production Act order. That order, the court said, does not relieve Sable of its requirements to obtain all necessary approvals from the state and notify the court of its intent to restart.

The court also expressed deep concern about Sable’s noncompliance with the injunction and set a date of May 22 to address whether to issue an order to show cause why Sable should not be found in contempt.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Foundation filed a preliminary injunction request in June 2025, after Sable announced it had resumed oil production from one of three offshore platforms and was storing oil in onshore tanks while it attempted to restart the pipeline system. In July the court issued the injunction.

“This preliminary injunction is another reminder that Sable is not above the law,” said Mati Waiya, executive director for the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation. “The rash restart of Santa Ynez Unit and Las Flores Pipeline System operations is a serious threat to Chumash lifeways, our sacred sites, and our communities. We will continue the fight to protect our home.”

The injunction is part of an ongoing lawsuit against California’s Office of the State Fire Marshal. The suit challenges the agency’s issuance of waivers from corrosion-related pipeline safety requirements without any environmental review, public notice or opportunity for a hearing. The Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center filed a similar lawsuit and request for relief on behalf of a group of environmental organizations, and the two cases have been consolidated.

The state of California and the environmental groups have filed separate lawsuits in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to challenge the Trump administration’s takeover of the Las Flores Pipeline System.

In addition to this injunction, State Parks has filed a request for a preliminary injunction to stop Sable from operating the pipelines in Gaviota State Park without an easement. The hearing is set for April 24.

Sable has also run into widespread public opposition and was cited and fined $18 million by the California Coastal Commission for unlawful work in sensitive coastal habitat. It was also sued by the California attorney general and Santa Barbara district attorney for legal violations tied to unlawful discharges into creeks and waterways.

The pipeline system had been shut down since it ruptured in May 2015 and released an estimated 450,000 gallons of oil at Refugio State Beach. It was California’s worst oil spill in decades, devastating 150 miles of coastline, killing hundreds of birds and marine mammals and shutting down beaches and fisheries. Sable purchased the Santa Ynez Unit in 2024 from ExxonMobil and has aggressively pushed to revive it.