On July 17, 2026, the hearing board of the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District unanimously voted to allow Sable Offshore Corp. a 90-day variance for exceeding air pollution limits for its Platform Heritage, which restarted oil production in March 2026.
On June 25, 2026, the Air Pollution Control District granted Sable a five-day pollution variance for the platform for unplanned flaring events. The Center for Biological Diversity, however, appealed the decision, requiring the application to be reheard by the full hearing board on July 17.
Flaring involves burning excess natural gas produced during oil extraction when the gas cannot be captured or transported. It may occur because of equipment constraints, limited pipeline capacity, safety concerns, operational issues, or market conditions.
Sable told the hearing board that operational issues during the restart that were outside its “reasonable control” contributed to excess flaring, according to the Santa Barbara News Press. These include equipment malfunctions, production balancing issues, and well production issues, according to the Center for Biological Diversity appeal. Sable also stated that the natural gas cannot be injected back into the oil well at Platform Heritage.
Platform Heritage was idle from 2015, when it was shut down following the Refugio oil spill, until the March 2026 restart. Restarting long-idled offshore production can result in temporary flaring as wells are brought back online and associated natural gas production stabilizes as a re-pressurized well releases associated gas.
Sable argued that compliance with the air quality regulations would cause it to shut down operations at Platform Heritage with a loss of $1.75 million in revenues per day, according to the News Press.
In its petition, Sable argued that compliance with the air quality rules would be unreasonable. The company argued that meeting the emissions limits immediately would require additional operational work, including shutting down production and the related planned flaring to depressurize the wells.
Sable also contends that halting oil production at the platform would “not necessarily reduce the volume of flaring,” according to the Center for Biological Diversity appeal. The Center for Biological Diversity contends that Sable failed to show how any of these compliance efforts would be considered unreasonable.
In its appeal, the Center for Biological Diversity lists 11 emergency variances for the Santa Ynez Unit for Sable in 2025 and 2026. These include three variances for Platform Harmony, one for Platform Heritage, one for Platform Hondo, five for Las Flores Canyon, and one for the associated gas plant.