The administration has hailed the project by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp.<\/a> to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill as the kind of project President Donald Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production<\/a>.<\/p>\n The state oversees the pipelines<\/a> that run through Santa Barbara and Kern counties, said Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta.<\/p>\n \u201cThe federal administration has no right to usurp California\u2019s regulatory authority,\u201d he said at a news conference. \u201cWe\u2019re taking them to court to draw a line in the sand and to protect our coast, beaches and communities from potentially hazardous pipelines.\u201d<\/p>\n But the U.S. Transportation Department agency that approved Sable\u2019s plan pushed back on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n \u201cRestarting the Las Flores Pipeline will bring much needed American energy to a state with the highest gas prices in the country,\u201d said a spokesperson with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.<\/p>\n Sable did not respond for comment on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to reverse former President Joe Biden\u2019s ban on future offshore oil drilling<\/a> on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden\u2019s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.<\/p>\n The federal administration in November announced plans for new offshore oil drilling<\/a> off the California and Florida coasts, which the oil industry has backed for years.<\/p>\n But critics say the plans could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.<\/p>\n Bonta said one of the pipelines Sable wants to restart burst in 2015, spilling oil along the Southern California coast<\/a>. The event was the state\u2019s worst oil spill in decades. More than 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels) of oil gushed out, blackening beaches for 150 miles from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. It polluted a biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing scores of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and decimating the fishing industry.<\/p>\n The drilling platforms were subsequently shuttered.<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/California_Offshore_Oil_Fight_11553.jpg\")
FILE \u2013 A worker removes oil from sand at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, Calif., May 21, 2015. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong, File)\u00a0<\/p>\n