California Sues US Dept of Energy Over Sable Oil Pipeline Restart

Source: US News & World Report/Reuters

March 23, 2026, at 5:06 p.m.


March 23 (Reuters) - California Attorney General Rob ⁠Bonta ⁠said on Monday he has ⁠sued the U.S. Department of Energy to stop it from ​using a Cold War-era law to restart the long-disputed Sable Offshore pipeline system linking the Santa Ynez ‌offshore platform to California refineries.

U.S. ‌Secretary of Energy Chris Wright earlier this month restarted the pipelines using powers granted ⁠to him ⁠by President Donald Trump through an executive order that invoked the Defense ​Production Act to supersede state laws. “We won’t let this outrageous federal overreach go without a fight,” Bonta said in a press conference Monday. Bonta alleged Wright’s restart order violates state law, ​state court orders and a settlement approved by a federal court.

Spokespersons for the U.S. ⁠Department ⁠of Energy and Sable Offshore ⁠did not ​immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in San ​Francisco federal court. California is ⁠asking the court to rule that Wright's restart order violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution, and to prohibit the Energy Department from relying on the order to operate the Santa Ynez platform and its pipelines.

The Santa Ynez platform was shut down due to a ⁠2015 spill that dumped more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil into the ⁠Pacific Ocean and onto beaches near Santa Barbara.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2026-03-23/california-sues-us-dept-of-energy-over-sable-oil-pipeline-restart