Trump Administration Takes Away Control of Santa Barbara Oil Fields From State of California

Venezuela was not the only oil takeover by the US government last week.

Over the Christmas holidays, the Trump Administration quietly seized control of three offshore oil platforms off Santa Barbara … and the pipelines they use to deliver crude to a refinery near Bakersfield.

Under the claim of presidential power during a state of emergency, the Trump Administration grabbed control of there Santa Ynez oil fields and pipelines away from the state of California … which owns the affected seabed and beaches.

On New Year’s Eve, a federal Court of Appeal panel allowed a startup oil company from Texas to resume using the “repaired” corroded and rusty pipelines that broke 10 years ago.

This came just as the state Fire Marshal ruled that the repairs were insufficient, leaving the pipes as “unsafe,” and as the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors denied the transfer of the Santa Ynez Unit from a one bankrupt oil company to a new startup funded by a $611 million loan from Exxon-Mobil.

The US Court of Appeals effectively turned on the spigot for oil production to resume at three formerly-abandoned oil platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel … 70 miles up the coast from Malibu.

The Exxon spinoff, Sable Offshore Oil of Houston, Texas, claims that it now has the right to resume pumping crude oil across state of California property… from the offshore oil wells near UC Santa Barbara … to a refinery near Bakersfield.

Santa Barbara County has not transferred operating rights to Sable Offshore from a previous company, and prosecutors have filed criminal charges against Sable for damaging the coastal evironment with bulldozers conducting unlawful restart repairs.

Also over the winter holidays, the state Fire Marshall’s Office ruled that Sable’s ancient pipelines are corroded and unsafe to hold heated crude oil being pumped under pressure from Santa Barbara to Gaviota Pass to Highway 166 to Bakersfield.

Sable Offshore went to the Trump Administration and argued that its pipeline is technically an interstate pipeline, and thus pre-empted from state regulation by federal supremecy.

In San Francisco, the judges ruled that President Trump’s declarations of emergency power preempt any authority that California might claim to regulate the pipeline on its land.

The pipeline in question broke in 2015 and spilled oil into the ocean… some of it reaching the Malibu area.

Although it turned down an order for an emergency Christmas Eve stop of the oil flow, the Court of Appeals in San Francisco said a lawsuit challenging the Trump oil drilling will be fast tracked … with legal arguments due to be filed late this month.

The national and regional news media are overwhelmed with news of the Venezuela oil takeover, so the Santa Barbara oil war has gone unreported.   Many of the details reported here are in local reports from KEYT television in Santa Barbara.

KEYT has uncovered court documents revealing that Sable Offshore secured a 622 million dollar loan from Exxon to restart oil production from the three offshore platforms, and use the pipeline to Bakersfield.  Together, those oil facilities are known as the “Santa Ynez Unit.”

Santa Barbara County prosecutors in mid 2025 filed criminal charges against Sable offshore for bulldozing coastal habitat and operating without permits.

And the county board of supervisors just before Christmas voted against transferring ownership of the oil unit to the company … meaning Sable may not legally possess the pipelines that it is using.

4 Malibu Fire Fatalities To Be Commemorated Wednesday At City Hall

Four people were killed in Malibu … by the Palisades Fire … one year ago on Wednesday.
Their names … Randall Miod … Betty O’Meara … Diana Webb and Hak Wong.
Add in the Altadena firestorm … and at least 31 people were killed directly by those fires.
L A County estimates the total death toll at 400 or more … if you count in people who died from respiratory problems aggravated be exposure to the smoke or trauma.
In Malibu … the city government will hold a formal program of remembrance … and to commemorate the losses of the fire … at 4 o’clock Wednesday at City Hall.
The program will include a native Chumash blessing, a moment of silence for the community members who lost their lives, a song by the Senior Choir, and a remembrance poem written for the occasion by Charlotte Ward, Malibu Poet Laureate.
The city says its reception will follow with light food, soothing live music, a memorial space, and a commemorative art gallery.
Wednesday at 4 at Malibu City Hall.

LA Times Reveals Total Breakdown At LA City Fire, Massive Coverup At LA City Hall

As we look back at the fire one year ago … we see that it was a massive screwup by the City of Los Angeles that burned down one tenth of Malibu and killed four people.
LA has yet to address the issues it caused in Malibu …. It has gone into deep cover up mode.
The city of L-A fire department failed to pre-deploy any extra engines and crews to the Westside mountains … despite urgent warnings over six days of there approaching … life-threatening winds.
The city of LA fire department let its overnight crew of firefighters go home for a scheduled shift change … as the fire began.
1,000 firefighters were sent home for the day … as the fire exploded.
Fire commanders said they didn’t hold over the shift because they didn’t have enough engines for that many firefighters.
But there were 40 fire trucks parked around the city … all of them operable …
The Los Angeles Times reports those working engines could have been pre-positioned in the Palisades and elsewhere, as had been done in the past during similar weather.
The LA Times keeps piling on with more details about the coverup in the city of Los Angeles … both in the fire department and the city government.
The city fire department the Los Angeles Fire Department and Mayor Karen Bass’ office have maintained an extraordinary secrecy about the city’s preparations for and response to the inferno.
Mayor Karen Bass has not answered specific questions … put forward by the LA Times.
Neither has westside city council member Traci Parks.
The Los Angeles Times has been asking the mayor and the fire department questions about whether they approved the LA city fire’s plan to protect the Palisades – and thus neighboring Malibu – before the Jan. 7 blaze.
LA city fire LAFD denied dozens of public records requests from journalists and others related to its handling of the fire.
911 calls, dispatch logs and internal communications about preparations for the extreme winds ahve all been declared to be official government secrets.
One LA city fire chief has already been fired.
Her replacement … a former assistant fire chief who is also in charge of the city of LA’s after action assessment – an assessment that some city cpuncil members say is an official coverup.
One year after the fire … the City of LA has yet to commission an independent investigation into its fire department.
Two days before Christmas … the City of Los Angeles was sued by two homeowners associations in the mountains above the city.
They claim that the City of LA routinely allows houses to be built in the hills that violate state fire codes… and city rules.
They provide examples of 75 new mansions being built in places like Pacific Palisades and the Hollywood Hills … that violate state and city fire rules.
Roads too narrow… houses too close to each other … better fire hydrants … strategic fuel breaks to slow the progression of flames.
That’s not happening in the City of Los Angeles.
The state legislature passed a law in 2019 that requires cities to publish evacuation plans and evaluate whether those plans would work.
The City of LA has failed to do that.
And they had to bulldoze cars out of the way on Sunset Boulevard to clear a path for fire trucks to arrive to the Jan. 7 fire.
If Malibu had to evacuate down PCH that day … it would have been blocked by an uncoordinated, disastrous CVity of Los Angeles traffic jam on the beach. .
The City of Malibu spent … by one estimate … about 11 million dollars in direct expenditures because of the fire.
That money is not being reimbursed by the federal government … Donald Trump has stopped that.
Donald Trump’s FEMA is not reimbursing Malibu … or anyone in California.
More importantly … tax income taken a significant hit.
Vacant lots do not pay significant taxes. Land sales … housing sales ..are frozen. Reassessment at high tax rates are few and far between.
By all appearances, Malibu was damaged by the City of Los Angeles negligence.
The question now … how will the City fo Malibu get paid for its direct damages???
We’re not yet talking about the billions of dollars in private property destruction caused by City of Los Angeles negligence.
Malibu’s once healthy rainy day fund has been drained by disaster expenses that the federal government will not reimburse.
In California … some cities have sued other cities in the past … and won … over damages caused by the neighboring government.
So Malibu’s lawyer is looking into if the City of Malibu have cause to claim in court … reimbursement for our city’s damages ….  preparatory to a lawsuit.
No answer yet for the record.
There are some sharp and aggressive legal minds at city hall … and one can safely guess that this has been discussed in secret session.
We will keep you posted.

Residents Plan ‘They Let Us Burn’ Rally Wed Morning In What’s Left of Pac Pal – Their Safety Demands Would Protect Malibu

“They Let Us Burn.”
That is the name of a rally that will be held by the Palisades Fire Residents Coalition.
They are planning a protest on Wednesday at 10:30 at Palisades Village .. or what’s left of it.
They have a list of 10 demands…. Including a sales tax exemption for rebuilding supplies.
They want a waiver of city fees in the city of LA … like in the county and in Malibu.
They want property tax waived on residential properties until certificates of occupancy are issued.
They want California State Parks … the MRCA and other agencies to follow a brush clearing plan.
They want underground electric lines.
And they want evacuation planning.
The “They Let Us Burn” rally is Wednesday at 10:30 at Palisades Village … along Sunset east of Temescal Canyon.