Sacramento, CA — Environmental and community groups across California are outraged by the Trump administration’s decision to use the Defense Production Act to compel the restart of the Sable offshore oil project and pipeline system on the Santa Barbara County coast, which caused one of the state’s largest oil spills in recent history. That 2015 spill released more than 400,000 gallons of crude oil, killing untold numbers of wildlife and contaminating miles of coastline.
Just three days after Trump’s March 13 executive order, Sable announced that oil had begun to flow through the system, prompting a slew of responses from agencies like State Parks and the State Lands Commission as well as Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta.
In response to Sable suing the California’s Department of Parks and Recreation to maintain its access to a portion of pipeline that runs through Gaviota State Park — the easement for which expired in 2016 — California State Parks issued a letter denying the easement request and demanding that Sable immediately remove the 4-mile section that runs through the park.
Meanwhile, the California State Lands Commission held an emergency meeting on March 16th and voted unanimously to accept staff recommendations to authorize litigation to defend the Consent Decree and address Sable’s reliance on the Order and to delegate authority to the Executive Officer to take any steps necessary to protect the interests of the State, including potentially terminating Sable’s leases.
A Santa Barbara Superior Court injunction remains in place against Sable, and several other lawsuits related to the pipeline restart are ongoing. Among other violations, Sable has been cited by the California Coastal Commission for unlawful work in sensitive coastal habitat and fined a record $18 million, and sued by the California attorney general and Santa Barbara district attorney for legal violations tied to unlawful discharge into creeks and waterways.
Community and environmental groups from across California and beyond are calling on Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta to deploy every legal tool available to block the restart, warning that the order would override state environmental protections, undermine California’s authority to safeguard its own coastline, and put coastal communities at risk.
Advocates warn that allowing the Defense Production Act to override state environmental laws could set a dangerous precedent for federal overreach and are urging state leaders to act quickly to stop the restart of the pipeline and protect California’s coastal communities.
Members of the Last Chance Alliance said:
“After creating a crisis in global energy markets through his reckless attacks on Iran, Trump is doing all he can to enable his fossil fuel executive allies to profit from the war, including overstepping California’s authority to protect coastal communities and ecosystems from the harms of oil drilling,” said Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. Campaign Manager, Oil Change International. “Governor Newsom must stand up for California and show true climate leadership by fighting Trump and the fossil fuel industry’s overreach and stopping the Sable pipeline for good. As long as California’s energy system relies on volatile global fossil fuel markets, conflicts will continue to create economic shocks for California families. Governor Newsom must put California on a path to real energy security by investing in a just transition to clean, affordable renewable energy. ”
“The only real way to protect Californians from price shocks, pollution, and climate disasters is to accelerate the transition to clean transportation and renewable energy,” said Woody Hastings, Phase Out Polluting Fuels Director for The Climate Center. “Doubling down on dangerous offshore drilling is the wrong direction.”
“The Defense Production Act (DPA) is no excuse to restart the Sable offshore oil project and pipeline system. Sable caused one of the state’s largest oil spills. The images of sea life coated in oil dying are embedded in my mind. Using the DPA to increase clean energy solutions is the only logical choice. Clean energy is the path to energy security,” said Ramona Cornell du Houx, Communications Director, Elected Officials to Protect America, President of the Solon Center for Research and Publishing. “We are witnessing gas prices skyrocket because of the instability of the oil and gas supply lines due to the war in Iran. Affordability costs are already up with natural gas increases that have made electric prices go up an average of 13 percent. California has a distinctive opportunity to build out offshore wind with energy that is consistent day or night, and is needed by the state for its clean energy goals. These are times when California should take the lead and show how to protect our coastal communities from the needless risks posed by offshore oil drilling.”
“This is an extraordinary and deeply troubling misuse of federal authority,” said Robert M. Gould, MD. President of San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility. “The Trump administration is invoking emergency wartime powers not to protect Americans, but to force the restart of a controversial oil project that Californians have repeatedly rejected. It’s all part of our government’s clear plans to ramp up oil production to fuel unlimited reckless wars that destroy countless innocent victims and increasingly imperil our planet’s survival.”
“The Trump administration continues to choose corporate interests over the health and safety of Californians who don’t want fossil fuel operations destroying and polluting our air, water and land,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Nicole Ghio. “This project in particular has a horrific history of contaminating our beautiful coasts and we must not allow history to repeat. Instead of restarting this pipeline, we must invest in true renewable, sustainable energy.”
“Invoking the Defense Production Act in a war-for-oil scheme is a disastrous abuse of federal authority,” said Matt Nelson, Executive Director of Presente.org. “This is the worst kind of racket – dangerous, corrupt, and inhumane. The Trump regime’s war-for-oil obsession seeks to boost the stock prices of Big Oil corporations and defense contractors, while forcing the restart of Sable’s grotesque oil gambit that Californians have repeatedly rejected. All while leaving a trail of economic devastation at home and carnage abroad.”
“A defective pipeline responsible for one of the worst environmental disasters in California history should be permanently shut down,” said Alex Katz, Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Center. “Allowing Sable to restart its failed pipeline and operate outside of state safety and environmental laws is a threat to Californians, to our economy, and to the entire Central Coast–one of the most biodiverse marine areas on the planet. It will degrade our air quality and lock in countless years of greenhouse gas emissions, making our state’s climate goals all but impossible to reach. And it will have zero impact on gas prices. What we’re seeing is a corrupt abuse of the President’s power to benefit one company that has plowed up the coast without permits, ignored orders from state regulators, and racked up criminal charges including five felony counts. EDC and our partners are pursuing all legal remedies to oppose the federal order and the restart of this old, dangerous fossil fuel operation.”
“The recent decision to restart the pipeline that caused the 2015 oil spill off Refugio State Beach puts our communities at risk of another disaster,” said Ryan Gellert, CEO, Patagonia. “This same pipeline released more than 400,000 gallons of crude oil, killing untold numbers of wildlife and closing 150 miles of coastline and 138 square miles of fisheries for more than a month. As a California-based company whose employees and customers depend on clean water, we’re joining our community in opposing this reckless decision.”
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LCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge that Sacramento is the traditional home of the Maidu, Miwok and Nisenan people. Part of our commitment to decolonizing ourselves, our language, and our organizations is a commitment to learning and better understanding the history of Indigenous Peoples of so-called California, including the history of contact, colonization and the extraction of resources from Indigenous lands which has been part of the continuation of modern colonization.
