Attorney General Bonta Continues to Protect California’s Environment and Public Health, Fights Trump Administration’s Latest Effort to Delay and Evade Judicial Review of Sable Offshore’s Illegal Pipeline Operation

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a second petition against the Trump Administration, challenging the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) recent issuance of a new “non-emergency special permit” for Sable Offshore Corp. (Sable) to transport oil through two California onshore oil pipelines, known as Lines CA-324 and CA-325, in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern counties. This permit is the latest maneuver in PHMSA’s continuing effort to illegally assert federal jurisdiction over Lines CA-324 and 325 by reclassifying them as “interstate” and authorize their restart and operation in violation of state and federal law. In December 2025, at the request of Sable, PHMSA issued Sable an emergency permit waiving compliance with its own safety regulation requiring evaluation and remediation of pipeline corrosion. That emergency permit, alongside PHMSA’s reclassification of the pipelines as interstate, and its approval of Sable’s restart plan, are currently being challenged in court by the Attorney General and the Office of the State Fire Marshal. In today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the Office of the State Fire Marshal challenge PHMSA’s issuance of the new permit as unlawful. 
 
“California's coastline is not for sale to enrich the President’s fossil fuel friends,” said Attorney General Bonta. “No matter how many times the Trump Administration attempts to help Sable evade state regulation, my office will see them in court at every illegal turn and continue to protect California’s communities and environment.”
 
“Our focus remains on one priority: protecting public safety,” said Chief Daniel Berlant, California State Fire Marshal. “Our pipeline safety requirements are rigorous, grounded in engineering and risk reduction, and designed to safeguard communities and the environment.”
 
On December 17, 2025, PHMSA illegally reclassified Lines CA-324 and CA-325 that run onshore from Santa Barbara County to Kern County as “interstate.” The reclassification purports to shift regulatory oversight of the pipelines from the Office of the State Fire Marshal to PHMSA. Before December 17, 2025, PHMSA had for years classified these onshore pipelines as intrastate pipelines subject to state safety regulation and oversight. On December 22, 2025, PHMSA approved Sable’s plan to restart oil production based on President Trump’s bogus “National Energy Emergency” Executive Order that Attorney General Bonta previously challenged. In January, Attorney General Bonta filed a lawsuit in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging PHMSA’s orders that illegally purported to assert exclusive federal jurisdiction over the onshore Lines CA-324 and CA-325 by reclassifying them as “interstate,” issuing a restart approval for Sable, and providing Sable an emergency permit waiving regulatory compliance in order for Sable to restart oil transport through the pipelines. In March, the Attorney General challenged Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright’s improper order under the Defense Production Act seeking to halt its use as the basis for Sable’s unlawful restart of the pipelines. The order unlawfully purports to supersede state law, state court orders, and a federal court-approved Consent Decree to allow Sable to restart oil transport through the pipelines. In May, the Attorney General filed a motion for a preliminary injunction urging the court to enjoin the Wright Order and immediately block Sable’s transportation of oil through the pipelines. 
 
The onshore pipelines had been shut down for a decade since the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill, when a corroded segment of one pipeline ruptured and released more than 120,000 gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara, at least 21,000 gallons of which entered the Pacific Ocean. The oil spill caused serious harm to public health and safety including releasing hazardous oil and fumes that sickened communities, contaminated coastal waters, harmed hundreds of marine mammals and seabirds, and shut down beaches and fisheries for months — damaging local economies. It resulted in a Consent Decree — to which PHMSA is a party — that expressly acknowledges and approves the State Fire Marshal’s role in reviewing and approving any planned restart of the onshore pipelines. PHMSA has significantly departed from this agreement, which was approved by a federal court, and the way in which PHMSA historically viewed the pipelines.
 
In the lawsuit, filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Attorney General and the State Fire Marshal challenge PHMSA’s issuance of a non-emergency permit for Sable and the new reasoning underlying PHMSA’s attempt to assert federal jurisdiction over Lines CA-324 and CA-325 as unlawful.