By Nichola Groom
Jan 23 (Reuters) – California’s attorney general on Friday said the state was suing the Trump administration for asserting federal authority over two state pipelines and permitting Sable Offshore to restart pumping oil through them.
The lawsuit is the latest turn in a dispute between Houston-based Sable and California officials over a drilling project off the coast of Santa Barbara that was shut down following a 2015 spill that dumped more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean and onto beaches.
Sable shares were down nearly 17% at $10.32 on the New York Stock Exchange following the state’s announcement.
The matter is among the slew of conflicts between U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to supercharge domestic fossil fuel production, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has championed his state’s ambitious climate change agenda and is among Trump’s harshest critics.
At a press conference on a Los Angeles beach, California, Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration broke the law by reclassifying the Las Flores pipelines last month as “interstate,” at Sable’s request, even though they run between two California counties.
The reclassification allowed the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates interstate pipelines, to issue an emergency permit last month to restart operations.
“Sable said ‘jump,’ and Trump said ‘how high?’,” Bonta said. He added: “All of this is a pretext for usurping state oversight.”
PHMSA officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sable had justified its request for an emergency permit by citing the national energy emergency Trump declared when he took office a year ago.
Sable officials also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The petition will be filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the attorney general’s office said.
(Reporting by Nichola GroomEditing by Rod Nickel and Aurora Ellis)
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