Oil flows through Santa Barbara coastal pipeline for first time in decade amid Trump fight with Cali

[libertybele]

Oil flows through Santa Barbara coastal pipeline for first time in decade amid Trump fight with California



    Oil is flowing through Santa Barbara’s controversial pipeline for the first time since 2015, after Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to override state regulators.
    California officials are fighting back, with state parks demanding Sable Offshore immediately remove the pipeline and threatening legal action within 10 days.
    Sable and the Trump administration argue the restart is essential for national security and will boost California’s domestic oil supply by approximately 17%.

For the first time in more than a decade, offshore oil is again flowing through a controversial network of pipelines that run from California’s Central Coast to Kern County.

Following an executive order from President Trump last week, Sable Offshore Corp. announced Monday that it resumed oil flow through pipelines that run across Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties. The infrastructure is part of an offshore oil operation that the Houston-based company has been trying to restart for more than a year. .........

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-16/sable-offshore-corp-begins-pumping-oil-off-california-coast

[libertybele]

Houston oil company Sable Offshore has resumed operations of its embattled offshore assets in California thanks to a wartime order from the Trump administration, which directed Sable to "immediately prioritize" the flow of oil from its production platform.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued the order Friday for the company to start pumping thousands of barrels of oil a day through its pipeline as the administration seeks remedies for the oil supply pressure felt in the wake of its war with Iran. .........

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/sable-trump-iran-california-restart-oil-22079220.php

[PeteS in CA]

The Trump Administration and Sable have been laying the groundwork for this probably since January 21, 2025. Sable has done the reconditioning work, so with the DPA invoked, the oil is flowing or soon will.

Noisome and Bonta will try to judge-shop, though the location limits their choices. That the platforms are outside of state waters also limits their tactics, and IIRC, pumping oil into tankers instead of the pipeline is also possible.