A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by two environmental groups challenging the restart of oil production on Sable Offshore Corp.’s three offshore platforms near Santa Barbara, ruling that the environmental groups lacked standing, according to Courthouse News.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Foundation sued the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in April 2025, alleging that the agency violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the Administrative Procedure Act by not requiring Sable to revise the Santa Ynez Unit’s development and production plans for the first of three offshore platforms that the company planned to restart.
The groups argued that the plans, originally approved in the 1970s and 1980s, were “woefully outdated” and did not reflect current environmental conditions or operational risks.
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the organizations failed to demonstrate how BOEM’s decision caused them injury sufficient to establish standing.
The court also stated that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act gives the Department of the Interior discretion over when to revisit previously approved development and production plans. The judge stated that BOEM had already conducted a review in its April 2025 decision and that the court was “powerless to compel the secretary to conduct another review….”
Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, BOEM is required to seek input from local governments only for certain agency actions. The local governments, in turn, can then seek comments to include in their responses to BOEM.
The environmental groups may file an amended complaint, according to Courthouse News.
The three platforms are part of the Santa Ynez Unit, which has been shut since the 2015 Refugio oil spill. The Santa Ynez Unit also includes an onshore oil processing plant located in Las Flores Canyon, near Goleta, and the associated pipeline infrastructure.