Judge rules Santa Barbara oil pipeline can keep operating

Ruling finds Defense Production Act preempts state claims

A federal judge ruled this week that Sable Offshore Corporation can continue operating its oil pipeline off the Santa Barbara coast, siding with the company over California regulators who had sought to shut the system down. Judge Stephen Wilson found that a Defense Production Act directive preempted state law, including California’s trespass claim, while fining Sable $1.5 million for violating a federal consent decree without authorization.

The decision ends a months-long legal fight between California and the Trump administration over offshore energy, with the state calling the pipeline’s operations an environmental trespass and the president invoking wartime supply needs to override state regulators.

The system, identified as Sable Offshore’s Santa Ynez Unit, resumed operations earlier in 2026 for the first time in more than a decade after President Donald Trump ordered the company to reopen it, citing U.S. energy needs during the war in Iran. The pipeline had been closed since 2015, when a burst pipe caused one of California’s worst oil spills, and its reopening was supposed to be governed by a federal consent decree.

For months, California has sought to stop Sable from moving oil through the pipeline, describing the company’s actions as an “egregious trespass on public land” that would cause irreparable harm. The Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act, which grants the president authority over industries in the interest of national defense, and the company said the federal directive superseded state regulators’ orders.

Wilson’s ruling resolved that dispute by finding that the federal order preempted state enforcement actions. “Finally, as the Court has now discussed, the DPA Order does, as a matter of law, preempt the enforcement of any state law that conflicts with Sable’s ability to operate the Onshore Pipeline, including the trespass claim,” Wilson wrote in his ruling. The decision also shifted oversight of the pipeline from state to federal authorities.

But the judge also penalized Sable. Wilson fined the company $1.5 million for violating the consent decree without authorization from a state agency or by petitioning the court on the matter. Sable bought the pipeline from ExxonMobil in 2024 and had for more than a year been seeking to restart offshore oil production.

In March 2026, the Trump administration invoked the emergency powers of the DPA to order Sable to “restore operation” of the pipeline, citing “supply disruption risks” that it said were caused by California policies. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright argued the move would improve the U.S. oil supply and restore a system “vital to our national security and defense.”

“The Trump administration remains committed to putting all Americans and their energy security first,” Wright said. “Unfortunately, some state leaders have not adhered to those same principles, with potentially disastrous consequences not just for their residents, but also our national security.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom offered a sharply different characterization. Newsom said Trump’s moves in the Middle East had caused gas prices to surge and that Trump was “using this crisis of his own making to attempt what he’s wanted to do for years: open California’s coast for his oil industry friends so they can poison our beaches.”

The matter has been working its way through the courts for months. The California attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.