The Trump administration illegally ordered the restart of oil pipelines on the Central Coast, the federal lawsuit alleges
The California Department of Justice on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump administration order that asked a private Texas company to resume controversial oil pipelines on the central coast despite continued state and local opposition.
A March 13 order from US Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright used the Defense Production Act as a pretext to supersede state laws and restart the controversial pipeline. The lawsuit, filed Monday in a Northern California district court, called the order a “power grab.” In the complaint, Atty. General Rob Bonta said the order is unconstitutional and illegal, and asked the court to suspend it and stop the opening of the pipeline.
“The Trump Administration and its friends in the oil industry have once again broken the law and trampled on our nation’s rights in pursuit of corporate profits,” Bonta wrote in a statement Monday. “California has seen firsthand the devastating environmental and public health impacts of these pipeline bursts, and there are court-ordered legal requirements to ensure that doesn’t happen again. But instead of following the law, the Trump Administration and Sable are becoming increasingly desperate. [Offshore Corp.] they are trying to prejudge the authority of the state and the independence of the judiciary.”
Neither the US Department of Energy nor representatives for Sable immediately responded to a request for comment.
The Sable, now using the two pipelines in question, resumed the flow of oil immediately after Wright’s order. The infrastructure is part of an offshore oil operation that has been shut down since 2015, when a corroded part of one of the pipelines exploded and caused the state’s worst oil spill. Sable said they have fully repaired the pipes.
The Santa Ynez Unit, which includes pipelines, offshore rigs and a processing plant, was under different ownership at the time of the oil spill.
But for more than a year, the company has clashed with state and local regulators as it tries to restart oil drilling and transportation. Sable is accused of repeatedly ignoring the directives of state and local officials, as well as taking responsibility criminal acts related to California environmental and coastal laws. The company has denied wrongdoing.
This is the second California lawsuit against the Trump administration related to the restart of the Sable pipeline. In January, Bonta accused the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of illegally usurping the authority and control of Sable’s pipelines away from state firefighters.
That case is still before the courts.
The state attorney general, on behalf of the State Fire Marshal’s Office and State Parks, also filed an emergency motion last week, asking a federal judge to enforce a federal consent decree agreed after the oil spill — and block a new order from the Trump administration.
But a judge on Monday rejected that request, finding the California documents to be “procedurally incorrect,” but said the court could rule on the argument “on motions of common notice.”
It’s unclear when there might be some clarity in the bitter legal battle between state and federal officials over jurisdiction over the pipelines.
Next month, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge is scheduled to rule on a law that would have stopped Sable from restarting the pipeline before the federal order was announced. But any decision in that case will likely face another legal challenge.
