California challenges federal takeover of two oil pipelines

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Updated Jan. 23, 2026, 5:46 p.m. ET


California is challenging an agency under the Department of Transportation for giving the “green light” to a company to restart pumping oil through pipelines officials said have been federalized.

Against the backdrop of ocean waves at Dockweiler State Beach, Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Friday, Jan. 23 that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has unlawfully given Sable Offshore Corp. the “green light” to restart pumping oil through two onshore pipelines that start from Santa Barbara County and end in Kern County.

In a petition for review filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the attorney general argued that PHMSA issued an order to assume federal jurisdiction over a pair of pipelines. According to Bonta, these pipelines are solely located in California and yet it has been reclassified as “interstate.” He described the move as lawfully federalizing the pipelines and “usurped state control.”

"This pipeline was regulated for decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, as an interstate pipeline," a PHMSA spokesperson said in an email to the USA TODAY Network. "The Las Flores pipeline was only redesignated as intrastate in 2016 when it was taken out of service. Based on the facts presented by Sable in their letter to us last November, PHMSA agreed with the operator that returning the pipeline to our jurisdiction was appropriate."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/california/2026/01/23/california-trump-administration-oil-pipelines-sable/88323838007/

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Link to CA AG Bonta PRESS RELEASE - Attorney General Bonta Sues the Trump Administration to Protect California’s Environment and Public Health, Block Sable Pipeline Permit

Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/PFR%20with%20Exhibits%20and%20Certificate%20of%20Service.pdf

[William Seger]

1. "Based on the facts presented by Sable..."

If the fact that it was once regulated as an interstate pipeline has precedence over the fact that it is not, then don't try to pretend that the decision was based on the facts.