Oil begins flowing through California pipeline under Trump order, despite objections from officials

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LOS ANGELES - Oil has begun flowing through a pipeline near Santa Barbara, California, for the first time in more than a decade after the Trump administration ordered offshore production to resume there despite strong objections from California officials.

The pipeline had been shut down since 2015, when a rupture caused one of the worst oil spills in state history, releasing more than 378,000 litres of oil onto California’s Central Coast and covering birds and beaches in tar.

The new owner of the pipeline, Sable Offshore, announced on March 16 that it had resumed oil production on March 14 at the direction of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and after President Donald Trump invoked the Defence Production Act, which the Trump administration said superseded state laws.

The moves came as oil prices have spiked during the Iran war, restricting access to the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for transporting Persian Gulf oil.

The reopening of the pipeline set off a new legal battle between the Trump administration and California leaders.

Sable Offshore, which is based in Texas, had been trying to restart the pipeline for more than a year but had not been able to secure the required permits.

State and local officials have said that Sable had not sufficiently repaired damage on the pipeline that led to the 2015 spill, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation had required the company to undergo an environmental review process.

With its project stalled, Sable in 2025 asked the Trump administration for help bypassing state regulations.

On March 13, Mr Trump signed an executive order under the Defence Production Act, a 1950s-era law that has typically been used in national emergencies. That order allowed Mr Wright to direct Sable to resume pipeline operations.

Mr Jim Flores, Sable’s chief executive officer, said in a statement that the company looked forward to “working with the Trump administration to take all necessary steps to deliver the energy necessary for the security and defence of the country”.

Sable’s operations could increase California’s in-state oil production by 15 per cent, reducing the need for foreign crude oil by 1.5 million barrels a month, according to the Energy Department.

Mr Wright said the move addressed the harm caused by California policies that had left the nation dependent on foreign oil.

Governor Gavin Newsom of California vowed on March 13 to fight back against the Trump administration. The state earlier in 2026 sued the administration over a different attempt to get the pipeline flowing.

Mr Newsom called the latest attempt to restart the pipeline illegal, and said the amount of new oil coming from California would amount to less than 1 per cent of global crude oil production.

“Donald Trump started a war, admitted it would spike gas prices nationwide and told Americans it was a small price to pay,” Mr Newsom said in a statement.

“Now he’s using this crisis of his own making to attempt what he’s wanted to do for years: open California’s coast for his oil industry friends.”

Mr Brady Bradshaw, senior oceans campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, said that scientists and environmentalists had worked hard to try to prevent oil from ever flowing through that pipeline again.

“California’s coast now faces the threat of another oil disaster,” Mr Bradshaw said in a statement. “This is a dark day for California.”

Sable on March 13 sued the California Department of Parks and Recreation, asking a judge to declare that the federal orders overrode any state requirements for further environmental testing or review.

The company said that it has followed all legal requirements since it bought the pipeline from Exxon Mobil in 2024.

In response, the California parks department sent a letter to the company demanding that it immediately remove the portion of the pipeline that passes through a state park. Without further action by Sable, the department said that it would take legal action “to defend the state’s property rights”.

The agency said that the company’s easement – which allowed it to use state park land for pipeline operations – expired in 2016.

And while it had been discussing issuing a new easement to Sable if it were to comply with all state environmental laws, Sable’s attempts to restart the pipeline had taken that option off the table.

“Sable has shown that it does not intend to comply with State Parks’ demand and we will be taking further action,” Mr Marty Greenstein, a spokesperson for the agency, said in an e-mail on March 16. NYTIMES