A federal judge has thrown yet another wrinkle into the battle over whether an oil pipeline, which ruptured in 2015, causing a major spill in Santa Barbara County, should be allowed to restart.
State regulators are still mulling efforts by Sable Offshore Corporation to restart the pipeline network. Last year, the company went to the federal government, asserting that a federal agency should decide whether to restart the pipeline. The agency quickly gave its approval.
A coalition of environmental groups went to court seeking an order requiring the Trump Administration to release its correspondence relating to the action. This week, a federal court agreed, calling for the government to make the documents public.
Sable has been pushing to restart the pipeline so it can ship oil from three offshore platforms, which have been idled since the accident more than a decade ago.
Environmentalists have been battling the effort, contending that restarting the aging infrastructure would set the stage for another major oil spill.
