SAN FRANCISCO (KEYT) – Environmental groups filed an emergency lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the federal government’s approval this week of restarting oil production in Santa Barbara County.
According to the suit filed in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the petitioners allege that the Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration, “bypassed the required public notice, opportunity for public participation, statement of reasons for its decisions, and other conditions generally required for pipeline safety regulation waivers under the federal Pipeline Safety Act”.
The non-profit environmental groups who filed the lawsuit requested the court halt the emergency special permit issued by the federal government to the current owner of the pipelines…