 (1).jpeg "California mussels and a crab are covered in oil at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, after a 2015 spill.")
California mussels and a crab are covered in oil at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, after a 2015 spill.
Jae C. Hong
Associated Press file
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday challenged a Trump administration order allowing offshore oil drilling at a complex near Santa Barbara that had been shut down after a major oil spill.
The complaint marks the 64th time in the state has sued the federal government since President Donald Trump began his second term last year, challenging policies, financial moves and other actions at a rate of more than one lawsuit a week.
An investigation by The Bee published Monday showed that the state’s lawyers and analysts expended 154,000 work-hours on the lawsuits during the first nine months of Trump’s term, at a cost of around $30 million. The lawsuits primarily focused on funding disputes with the administration, but also touched on such issues as immigration, education, health care and gender rights.
In its latest lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, the state said a March 13 order by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright asking a Houston oil company to begin sending oil through the Santa Ynez Unit and Santa Ynez pipeline system violated both California law and a federal court order.
“This stunning usurpation of California’s police powers, and the powers of the state and federal courts, should be struck down swiftly and certainly.,” Bonta said his his complaint. Wright’s order, the lawsuit said, was “a breathtaking power grab.”
The system was shut down after a corroded pipe burst near Refugio State Beach in 2015, spilling more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The pipeline was owned by a different company at the time.
Last week, the pipeline’s current owners, Sable Offshore Corp., began sending oil through the system at the federal government’s behest. The price and availability of oil has skyrocketed since the U.S. and Israel began a war against Iran late last month.
On March 13, Wright issued an order directing Sable to restart pumping and moving oil from the system. Wright did not mention the war, but instead blamed California policies for leaving the region and the U.S. military dependent on foreign oil.
Neither Sable nor the Department of Energy immediately responded to a request for comment from The Bee.
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Sharon Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She has reported and edited for news organizations across California, including the Los Angeles Times, Reuters and Cityside Journalism Initiative. She grew up in Dallas and earned her master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley.