The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against Sable Offshore Corp. for discharging pollutants into local creeks and waterways in violation of the Fish and Game Code and the Water Code. The charges are related to excavation activities during work on the Las Flores pipeline system.
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney filed the charges on September 16, 2025 in People of the State of California v. Sable Offshore Corp. in the Superior Court for the County of Santa Barbara. The 21 criminal counts, according to Noozhawk, include five felony charges of knowingly discharging a pollutant into a waterway and 16 misdemeanors.
Sable called the allegations “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” It said a certified independent biologist and cultural resource professional and Office of State Fire Marshal personnel supervised the repairs and excavations and that no wildlife was “adversely affected.” Sable stated that “[a]ll of these previously disturbed areas have been or are being remediated in accordance with state and local erosion control mitigation measures.”
Sable stated that it continues to “lawfully work with all state and federal agencies to work towards a successful restart of Lines 324 and 325.” It says it is fully compliant with the water quality and wildlife requirements.
Sable began construction to repair parts of the pipelines in its Santa Ynez Unit in September 2024. The Santa Ynez Unit consists of three offshore platforms located in federal waters as well as an onshore oil processing plant located in Las Flores Canyon, near Goleta, and related pipelines. The pipelines, originally known as Line 901 and Line 903, run for 122 miles from the Las Flores Canyon Pump Station on the Gaviota coast to Pentland in Kern County. The unit has been shut down since the pipelines caused the 2015 oil spill. Restarting the pipelines is a critical part of the company’s plan to restart onshore and offshore operations.
In April 2025, the California Coastal Commission voted to fine Sable $18 million for refusing to comply with its orders to stop work on the oil pipelines. Sable has maintained that it has the right to conduct repairs under contracts it acquired from ExxonMobil, which acquired the pipelines from Plains All-American Pipeline. Plains owned the pipeline at the time of the Refugio Oil Spill and was found guilty on most criminal charges related to the spill.