The California Coastal Commission served legal notice on Sable Offshore that unless the embattled oil company sought a coastal development permit for its recently resumed oil production off the coast of Gaviota, the commission would file a cease-and-desist order to force the company to shut down production.
This marks a significant escalation in the commission’s ongoing legal and rhetorical warfare with Sable, which restarted oil production off the Gaviota Coast this March after a 10-year production shutdown because of the Refugio Oil Spill of May 2015.
In its letter of notice, commission lawyers used unusually hospitable language, encouraging Sable to take a more cooperative and conciliatory approach in securing the necessary state permits than it has during its past 18 months of legal head-butting with various state agencies — or else.