The Trump administration approved Sable Offshore Corp.’s request for an “emergency” waiver from federal safety regulations over the restart of the Las Flores Pipeline System. Environmental groups then sued the administration over the approval, contending that the administration bypassed federal requirements in its approval of the pipeline restart plan and its “Emergency Special Permit.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) took regulatory authority the Las Flores Pipeline System on December 17, 2025. The PHMSA then approved the pipeline restart plan on December 22, 2025. The following day, it issued an order granting an “emergency special permit” to Sable, waiving compliance with federal pipeline safety regulations. More specifically, the waiver grants relief to the requirement to “evaluate and remediate corrosion occurring at longitudinal seam welds within 180 days.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, contends that, by issuing the “emergency special permit,” the PHMSA bypassed the “required public notice, opportunity for public participation, statement of reasons for its decisions, and other conditions generally required for pipeline safety regulation waivers under the federal Pipeline Safety Act.” The lawsuit contends that PHMSA also failed to conduct any environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.