Environmental groups opposing the resurrection of a trio of aging oil drilling platforms off the coast of California scored an interim win after a federal judge rejected a request from the platforms’ owner to dismiss their case.
On Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation had followed the correct procedure for bringing their challenge and the court would consider the substance of their claims.
The groups alleged the Interior Department had violated federal law when it failed to require the new owner of the Santa Ynez Unit, Sable Offshore Corp., to conduct an updated development and production plan before it was slated to resume production for the first time since 2015.
Sable intervened in the case on behalf of Interior and asked the court in July to toss out the case, alleging the groups failed to provide proper notice to the agency of their plans to sue. Interior also backed the request to dismiss the case. But the court found their notice of intent to sue filed in 2024 was enough to comply with requirements under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
