{"id":422142,"date":"2026-08-03T00:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T00:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/422142\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T00:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T00:19:14","slug":"trump-revives-spotlight-on-california-offshore-oil-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/422142\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Revives Spotlight on California Offshore Oil Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a> reignited his administration’s ongoing energy dispute with California<\/a> in a Truth Social post on Sunday, highlighting a previous executive order designed to restart oil<\/a> operations tied to the Sable Pipeline and significantly expand offshore oil production off the state’s coast.<\/p>\n

When contacted for comment about Trump’s post, California Governor Gavin Newsom<\/a>‘s office directed Newsweek on Sunday to previous press releases from the governor on the issue.<\/p>\n

“Donald Trump started a war, admitted it would spike gas prices nationwide, and told Americans it was a small price to pay. Now he\u2019s using this crisis of his own making to attempt what he\u2019s wanted to do for years: open California\u2019s coast for his oil industry friends so they can poison our beaches,” Newsom said in March, later adding, “California will not stand by while the Trump administration attempts to sacrifice our coastal communities, our environment, and our $51 billion coastal economy.”<\/p>\n

Read More on News<\/p>\n

Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Executive Action Targets Sable Pipeline Restart<\/p>\n

A White House graphic posted to Truth Social on Sunday by the president spotlighted an executive order enabling the Department of Energy<\/a> (DOE) to use the Defense Production Act to restart the Sable Pipeline. The post noted Energy Secretary Chris Wright was to issue an order resulting in the \u201cimmediate production of 50,000 barrels of oil per day,\u201d which the White House said would increase offshore oil production in California by 550 percent.<\/p>\n

The post also stated that the pipeline would produce \u201c20 million barrels of oil equivalent per year\u201d to meet urgent Department of Defense<\/a> requirements\u2014referenced as the \u201cDepartment of War\u201d\u2014to supply 50 military installations on the West Coast. The post asserted that the order would preempt \u201cradical California climate laws,\u201d framing the initiative as an effort to end the Golden State’s \u201ccoordinated regulatory attacks on American energy dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOE announced in March that Wright had directed Sable Offshore Corp. to restore operations at the Santa Ynez Unit and Santa Ynez Pipeline System, citing supply disruption risks and national defense needs. The action was executed under Defense Production Act authorities delegated through an executive order amended by Trump.<\/p>\n

Wright said in the DOE announcement that the order would \u201cstrengthen America\u2019s oil supply\u201d and restore a pipeline system he described as \u201cvital to our national security and defense.\u201d The department said Sable\u2019s facility can produce about 50,000 barrels per day, which it described as a 15 percent increase to California\u2019s in-state oil production, and said the output could replace nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month.<\/p>\n

Trump’s decision to reshare the graphic follows months of emphasis by the administration on energy security, alongside concerns regarding disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy chokepoint that carries roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day, amid the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Newsom and West Coast Governors Push Back<\/p>\n

The Sunday post follows conflict between Trump and California officials over offshore drilling. Newsweek previously reported that Newsom had dismissed reports of a Trump plan<\/a> to expand drilling off California\u2019s coast as \u201cdead on arrival in California\u201d and said the state would \u201cabsolutely\u201d challenge the plan in court if finalized.<\/p>\n

Newsweek later reported that the Trump administration had unveiled a five-year leasing plan<\/a> including six offshore lease sales along the California coast between 2027-30, where no new federal leases had been issued since the mid-1980s. That proposal also included drilling in waters at least 100 miles off Florida\u2019s shoreline and more than 20 additional lease sales off Alaska.<\/p>\n

California has repeatedly opposed new offshore drilling. Newsom said in November that Trump\u2019s offshore drilling proposal was \u201cidiotic\u201d and a \u201creckless attempt to sell out our coastline to his Big Oil donors.\u201d In January, Newsom joined the governors of Oregon and Washington in formally opposing new oil and gas lease sales off California\u2019s coast, warning of risks to coastal economies, marine ecosystems and communities.<\/p>\n

California regulators and environmental groups have already mounted legal challenges over the Sable restart and related pipeline approvals. <\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by the Office of the State Fire Marshal, has challenged federal efforts in January to shift oversight of the Las Flores pipelines from state regulators to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, as well as DOE\u2019s Defense Production Act order directing the restart. Environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Center, the Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice, have also sought to intervene in support of California\u2019s challenge, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Steve Mollman<\/a> and Anthony Murray<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump reignited his administration’s ongoing energy dispute with California in a Truth Social post on Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,27465,28118,536,457,8390],"class_list":["post-422142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-department-of-defense","tag-department-of-energy","tag-donald-trump","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-oil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}