Coastal Commission Gives Sable Offshore Harsh Slap on Wrist

Executive Director Issues Rare Cease-and-Desist Order Barring Any Coastal Development Work on Pipelines, Offshore Oil Platforms Until February 2025

Environmentalist groups rallied against Sable Offshore's restart plans before the California Coastal Commission's November 15 meeting in San Francisco. | Credit: Center for Biological Diversity

The California Coastal Commission gave Sable Offshore a harsh slap on the wrist on November 12 in the form of a cease-and-desist order after Sable engaged in what the commission called “unpermitted development in the Coastal Zone.” Sable has been working to bring oil pipelines along the Gaviota coast to as-new condition after their rupture in the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill, with the goal of restarting the pipelines and three offshore oil platforms. While Sable has vowed to cooperate with the Coastal Commission moving forward, the oil company argues that the work being done on the pipeline is merely routine repair and maintenance, and does not require coastal development permits.

The cease-and-desist order, issued directly from the commission’s executive director, Kate Huckelbridge, bars Sable from performing any coastal development work on the pipelines or offshore oil platforms until February 2025.

“[Executive director cease-and-desist orders] are relatively rare and are used to avoid irreparable harm,” said Joshua Smith, a spokesperson for the California Coastal Commission. “In this case, we needed to get the site and soils quickly stabilized before the rainy season.”

The commission issued an initial notice of violation to Sable on September 27 for excavating the ground to install safety valves on the pipeline and fix a series of anomalies. The notice explained the need for coastal development permits and asked Sable to cease coastal operations in the meantime. Over the following week, commission staff received reports of ongoing work on the pipeline, leading to repeated meetings with Sable and requests for written assurance that all work had halted.

According to the executive director’s findings, the Coastal Commission formally notified Sable on October 4 that they would issue an executive director cease-and-desist order, again asking for assurance that all work had ceased by 2 p.m. that day. Sable confirmed, but commission staff continued to receive reports after the deadline that work was taking place in Sable’s coastal construction sites just off Highway 101. After an additional hour of work and another email from the commission, Sable eventually confirmed — truthfully — that all work had ceased on the Gaviota Coast.

Over the following weeks, Sable and commission staff met multiple times to discuss the permit application process and how Sable planned to secure their sites. The open holes in the ground with exposed pipelines would not fare well during the upcoming rainy season, explained the commission’s Chief of Enforcement Lisa Haage at their meeting on November 15. They need to be filled and the piles of excavated material secured, she said, to mitigate the “significant threat of coastal resource damage.”

“Sable agrees with commission staff that the open holes along the pipeline route need to be filled as quickly as possible to protect the surrounding environment and affected properties,” said DJ Moore, Sable’s attorney from legal powerhouse Latham & Watkins LLP, during the meeting’s public comment. He affirmed that Sable is committed to “working collaboratively with the commission to ensure necessary work can be completed … in a manner that avoids adverse impacts to the environment and to coastal resources.”

Moore’s comments were met with a sea of red signs in the audience reading, “Oil Spills Kill,” “No Polluting Pipeline,” and “Don’t Enable Sable,” demonstrating the tone among environmentalists who disapprove of Sable’s plans to restart the pipeline and offshore oil platforms.

As required by the cease-and-desist order, Sable submitted an “Interim Restoration Plan” to the Coastal Commission on November 15. The plan, which is still under review by commissioners, is supposed to detail what work Sable has completed, what additional work will be done, and how they will remediate any coastal damage caused. The commission also asked for confirmation that Sable intends to apply for coastal development permits while the cease-and-desist order is in effect, which the commission has not received as of November 19.