(Idea) What Is My Game Plan For Sable Offshore Now? (Part 2)
I can't believe it's almost been a month since our original game plan article on Sable Offshore, and yet, here we are.
Following the favorable ruling by Judge Geck, SOC required one final approval from the OSFM (Office of the State Fire Marshal) before submitting its restart plan to the court, which would initiate a 10-day wait period (court/business days).
But since then, there have been a few new developments:
In the case management hearing at the end of July, all parties (EDC, SOC, and OSFM) verbally agreed on a stipulation, which laid out the timeline during the 10-day wait period. It laid out that EDC had 5 court days to file any objections, followed by 3 days of response period from SOC or OSFM, and followed by 2 days of interpretation from Judge Geck.
During the hearing, Judge Geck sounded positive and relieved that the parties are agreeing outside of the courtroom, and insisted that she would not order the enforcement of the 10-day wait period. If the parties wanted to make it binding, they would have to submit a stipulation, which has not been filed.
While the stipulation is not required in order to kickstart the 10-day wait process, it does lay out in order how the events should unfold. This timeline prevents any last-minute efforts by the EDC to stonewall the restart process. And although EDC agreed verbally on the timeline, the fact that a stipulation has yet to be filed suggests that they have reneged on their verbal commitment.
Logically speaking, this makes sense. Why would EDC agree to a defined timeline when a cleared timeline benefits SOC the most?
As a result, it is a near certainty by now that no stipulation will be filed. This means that the next major update will be the submission of the restart plan, which would include the final Fire Marshal approval.
When is that exactly?