Welcome to Post Number Four and my last in today's salute to President Trump's wholehearted exposure and dismantling of what he called the 'Green New Scam.'
So, pardon my riff on The Beverly Hillbillies theme song, but it seemed appropriate as this last post is about oil.
Black gold.
Not Oleaginous Gavin Newsom's cup of tea.
Even though he's begging for someone to get him some and turn it into gasoline for him, since he and his toadies in the lunatic California legislature have managed to run damn near every refinery in the state off.
Which is cool, except most Californians still drive cars that use fossil fuels, as do the planes that come and go by the thousands to the state every single day.
And the cargo shipping vessels.
You get the picture. They didn't really think this through. It was mostly a climate cult #feelz exercise.
🦎 Gavin Newsom meets the consequences of his own actions
— 10 Minute Drill (@10minutedrill) October 2, 2025
Newsom's anti-energy policies and lawsuits have led to the closure of multiple refineries. Now California is preparing for gas prices to rise to nearly $8.50 a gallon.
Now he's scrambling to save his political career. pic.twitter.com/rn2s4CCN0J
'The supply deficit could drive prices up to $8.50 gal' is also deadly to a greasy poseur's presidential hopes - he has to do something to stave off that disaster, but nothing has worked to this point.
Earlier this spring, there had been a little-noticed bright spot in the CA fossil fuel saga. I, however, had noticed it and dropped a happy little post wishing something called the Sable Oil Company the best of luck.
What they had done back in March was fire up the first of three offshore oil rigs, which had been shut down because of corroded pipelines for the past ten years. The company had gotten all the repairs and safety upgrades done and had flipped the switch to start pumping oil from Santa Ynez to their Los Flores Canyon storage facility.
It was a BFD by any measure.
California’s first of three offshore platforms back in oil production business after 10 years
...Jim Flores, Sable’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “SOC is proud to have safely and responsibly achieved first production at the Santa Ynez Unit. The impressive well tests from platform Harmony confirm the prolific nature of the Santa Ynez Unit reservoir after being dormant for ten years. SOC is excited about our development plan and prospects for the future.
“This milestone achievement is a result of a tremendous amount of effort from all of Sable’s employees, contractors, Board of Directors, stakeholders, and suppliers. We are very grateful for the cooperation and partnership from our local community and regulatory bodies as we seek to provide energy security to the State of California.”
And, as I said at the time:
...This is akin to seeing a tyrannosaur wander down Wilshire Blvd, and once would have been thought as improbable.
The climate freaks, even as Newsom started his own freakout about refineries shutting down, had filed a lawsuit a month prior.
...Sable is attempting to restart the project, but the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and environmental activists claim this is being done under outdated plans, originally approved in the 1970s and 1980s.
As the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has not requested a revision or supplementation of the plans to address the perils of restarting production and did not respond to a notice identifying the violation, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
This legal step has been made in Federal District Court in Los Angeles to take the Trump administration to court over the so-called federal failure to require updated development and production plans for oil drilling at the Santa Ynez unit offshore California.
True to Left Coast form, a California judge sided with the green weenies yesterday. As Sable's entire oil business depends on those three platforms, their stock took a serious hit when the news came out.
Sable Offshore (NYSE:SOC) -25.4% post-market Tuesday after a California judge sided with the state government and tentatively ruled against the company's request to restart a pipeline that pulls crude from the Santa Ynez offshore oil project, Reuters reported.
The tentative ruling from the Superior Court for Santa Barbara County marks a major setback for Sable Offshore, whose entire business is focused on the Santa Ynez project.
Just as quickly, the Trump administration signaled it would be going to bat for the embattled little oil firm, even if it means using a federal waters work-around to foil the state.
BRILLIANT
...Sable Offshore Corp., headquartered in Houston, is facing a slew of legal challenges but is determined to restart production, even if that means confining it to federal waters, where state regulators have virtually no say. California controls the 3 miles (5 kilometers) nearest to shore. The platforms are 5 to 9 miles (8 to 14 kilometers) offshore.
The Trump administration has hailed Sable’s plans as the kind of project the president wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers. President Donald Trump has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo his predecessor’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts.
Cue exploding Lefty pinheads.
CALL ANOTHER WAAHMBULANCE
...“This project risks another environmental disaster in California at a time when demand for oil is going down and the climate crisis is escalating,” said Alex Katz, executive director of Environmental Defense Center, the Santa Barbara group formed in response to a massive spill in 1969.
The environmental organization is among several suing Sable.
“Our concern is that there is no way to make this pipeline safe and that this company has proven that it cannot be trusted to operate safely, responsibly or even legally,” he said.
Actor and activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who lives in the area, has implored officials to stop Sable, saying at a March protest: “I can smell a rat. And this project is a rat.”
The state that was all about incinerating birds at Tonopah is suddenly suing the oil company, alleging it harmed wildlife and polluted the water.
Sable called them out and has called their bluff, intending to file for damages over the delays. They'll also be happy to take their California oil elsewhere if the state is too pissy to want it.
...Last month, the Santa Barbara District Attorney filed felony criminal charges against Sable, also accusing it of polluting waterways and harming wildlife.
Sable said it has fully cooperated with local and state agencies, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and called the district attorney’s allegation “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” It said a biologist and state fire marshal officials oversaw the work, and no wildlife was harmed.
The company is seeking $347 million for the delays, and says if the state blocks it from restarting the onshore pipeline system, it will use a floating facility that would keep its entire operation in federal waters and use tankers to transport the oil to markets outside California. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, the company updated its plan to include the option.
No skin off Sable's nose if CA wants to cut their own off to spite its own face.
...Sable purchased the Santa Ynez Unit from Exxon Mobil in 2024 for nearly $650 million primarily with a loan from Exxon. Exxon sold the shuttered operation after losing a court battle in 2023 to truck the crude through central California while the pipeline system was rebuilt or repaired.
Flores said well tests at the Platform Harmony rig indicate there is much oil to be extracted and that it will relieve California’s gas prices — among the nation’s highest — by stabilizing supplies.
“Sable is very concerned about the crumbling energy complex in California,” Flores said in a statement to The Associated Press. “With the exit of two refineries last year and more shuttering soon, California’s economy cannot survive without the strong energy infrastructure it enjoyed for the last 150 years.”
And Trump would love to have nothing better than that big energy stick to poke in Newsom's twinkling eye.
He'll make sure everyone suffering in the state knows that the Trump administration is the only reason there's new oil being pumped in the state, and what a shame that their governor won't let the residents of the state have *checks notes* their own oil to help bring prices down.
I can hear that voice of Trump's saying it all right now.
I want to thank you all for indulging me.
I thought you should know about the skirmishes being fought, the battles being won, and, most importantly, the promises being kept in the war against the Green New Scam by this president and his crew.
It's been something to watch so far, and I think we're going to need plenty of popcorn.
REFILLS, that is.
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