The Trump administration is ordering a resumption of oil drilling off the coast of California
President Trump is asserting high authority to demand a resumption of the controversial offshore oil drilling off the coast of California as gas prices rise amid the ongoing war with Iran.
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order that gives the Energy Department the power to use a Cold War-era law known as the Defense Production Act to speed up oil and gas development. Energy Secretary Chris Wright quickly responded with an order directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restore operation of the Santa Ynez Unit and the Santa Ynez Pipeline System in coastal Santa Barbara County.
“Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system critical to our nation’s safety and security, ensuring that military installations on the West Coast have reliable capabilities that are critical to military readiness,” Wright said in a statement.
Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the move as “an attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators face criminal charges and which has been prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting.” He promised to take legal action against this act.
“Donald Trump started a war, he agreed to raise gas prices across the country, and he told the American people it was a small price to pay,” Newsom said. “Now he’s using this self-inflicted crisis to try what he’s wanted to do for years: open up the California coast to his friends in the oil industry to poison our beaches.”
Friday’s announcements seek to make good on previous threats from the Trump administration to force the resumption of oil drilling off California’s coast. They also follow years of efforts from Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. for revitalizing Santa Barbara County’s offshore oil infrastructure.
Environmental groups, local residents and state political leaders have strongly opposed such restarts, citing potential risks to marine life. Sable has faced some setbacks for its efforts to restart a pipeline that exploded in 2015, causing the largest oil spill in the country’s history.
Talia Nimmer, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized Trump’s action as “a swindling of the power of an extremist president.”
“Trump is abusing this Cold War-era law just to help a Texas oil company skirt state laws that protect our coasts, and Californians will pay the price,” Nimmer said in a statement. “Authorizing the reopening of these defunct oil pipelines will not stop high gas prices, but will put coastal wildlife at greater risk of further oil spills.”
Sable’s Santa Barbara County facilities can produce about 50,000 barrels of oil per day, replacing nearly 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude each month, according to the Department of Energy. However, this represents a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 20 million barrels per day currently held by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the ongoing attacks by the United States and Israel.
Two weeks after the start of the Iran War, crude oil has reached $100 a barrel, and the average price of gas in California has increased by $5.40 a gallon, according to AAA.
Times staff writer Grace Toohey contributed to this report.
