California sues Trump over federal oil pipeline jurisdiction dispute

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Friday the state is filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) asserting federal jurisdiction over two state oil pipelines and green lighting their restart.

The lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration has “unlawfully given the company Sable Offshore Corp. the green light to restart pumping oil through to onshore pipelines that originate and terminate within California, starting in Santa Barbara County and ending in Kern County,” Bonta said in a news conference at Dockweiler State Beach.

He noted that one of the two Los Flores pipelines ruptured in 2015 due to corroded pipes, causing that Refugio oil spill disaster that “dumped more than 100,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into the environment and at least 21,000 gallons of oil into the ocean.”

Bonta claimed PHMSA’S approval of the restart of the pipeline the “latest example of Trump doing the oil industry’s bidding.”

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Bonta claims because the pipelines are located solely in California without crossing state lines and without going into federal waters, “oversight of the pipelines is controlled by California, not the federal government.”

“The Trump administration unlawfully undermined California’s authority, unlawfully federalized the pipelines, and usurped state control and unlawfully issued Sable a sham emergency permit to begin pumping oil when there’s absolutely no emergency,” he said. 

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Bonta added, “In short, the Trump administration broke the law again, which is why we are suing again.”

Bonta said this marks the 55th lawsuit California has brought against the Trump administration.

He said the lawsuit isn’t about whether the pipelines should be restarted, but whether California or the Trump administration gets to make the decision.

“The answer is clear: the state of California gets to decide,” Bonta said.

He explained that Sable asked the Trump administration to declare the pipelines “interstate,” meaning “the pipelines are part of a larger system that extends into federal waters on the outer continental shelf. That is a fantasy. That is not true.”

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He called it a “pretext to usurp state oversight.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.