Santa Barbara environmental advocates and elected officials, who have battled to stop a Texas oil company from resurrecting an antiquated pipeline that already has caused one disastrous spill here, have privately expressed concerns about the prevarication and pussyfooting of some top state officials over joining the fight.

Although the California Coastal Commission has wielded a range of administrative and legal tools to block the Sable Offshore oil company from restarting the pipeline, which failed catastrophically in the 2015 Refugio spill, the actions of both Gov. Gavin Newsom (positioning himself to run for president) and Attorney General Rob Bonta (until recently weighing a bid to replace Newsom) have been halting and uncertain in the matter.

On Friday, Bonta finally jumped in with both feet on behalf of Santa Barbara.

In a new federal lawsuit, first reported by Josh Molina at newspress.com, Bonta challenged the Trump Administration’s effort to back Sable, and to end run local opposition, by claiming federal jurisdiction over the disputed pipeline, which long has been under the purview of state agencies. Josh reports:

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Friday that he is suing the Trump administration for giving Sable Oil “bogus” approval to restart two onshore oil pipelines in Santa Barbara County.

Bonta said Trump is “doing the oil industry’s bidding.”

“The Trump administration has no law to stand on. The law is clear,” Bonta said. “These pipelines fall within California’s jurisdiction. The federal administration has no right to usurp California’s regulatory authority.”

He said “these onshore pipelines are located in California and in California alone.”

The political and legal struggle over the pipeline, and associated infrastructure, is a long-running and tangled tale whose twists and turns can be difficult to follow. Cutting through all the labyrinth of complexity and complication, however, the bottom line here is that Bonta’s new action is a big deal.

Here is a primer about the controversy, featuring the Indy’s Nick Welsh.

And here’s the text of the Attorney General’s statement about the new litigation, and a link to the suit, filed in Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Attorney General Bonta Sues the Trump Administration to Protect California’s Environment and Public Health, Block Sable Pipeline Permit

Los Angeles. California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, challenging the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) orders that illegally assert exclusive jurisdiction over two California onshore oil pipelines, known as the Las Flores Pipelines or lines CA-324 and CA-325, and allow them to restart operations. Filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Attorney General’s petition for review challenges PHMSA’s attempt to evade state regulation through its orders to federalize the Las Flores Pipelines, approve Sable Offshore Corp.’s (Sable) Restart Plan, and issue Sable an emergency permit to restart oil transport through the pipelines. In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the Office of the State Fire Marshal argue that PHMSA’s orders violate the Administrative Procedure Act and ask the Court to overturn PHMSA’s illegal orders.

“In its latest unlawful power grab, the Trump Administration is illegally claiming exclusive federal authority over two of California’s onshore pipelines. California has seen first-hand the devastating environmental and public health impacts of coastal oil spills — yet the Trump Administration will stop at nothing to evade state regulation which protects against these very disasters,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The President is once again prioritizing his donors over our people and communities. California will not stand idly by as the President endangers California’s beautiful coastline and our public health to increase profits for his fossil fuel industry friends.”

“The Office of the State Fire Marshal is committed to its mission to protect the people, property, and natural resources of California,” said State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant. “Our team has worked diligently to uphold the terms of the consent decree and ensure the safety of lines CA 324 and CA 325.”

On December 17, 2025, the federal PHMSA illegally reclassified the Las Flores pipelines that run from Santa Barbara County to Kern County as “interstate.” The reclassification purports to shift oversight over the pipelines from the State Fire Marshal to PHMSA even though the pipelines originate at Las Flores Canyon in Santa Barbara County. Before December 17, 2025, PHMSA had classified these onshore pipelines as intrastate pipelines subject to State safety regulation and oversight. On December 22, 2025, PHMSA issued an order approving Sable’s plan to restart oil production based on President Trump’s bogus “National Energy Emergency” Executive Order that Attorney General Bonta has previously challenged.

The onshore pipelines have been shut down for a decade since the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill, when a corroded segment of one pipeline ruptured and released hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil near Santa Barbara. 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 was a party — that expressly acknowledged and approved the State Fire Marshal’s role in reviewing and approving any planned restart of the onshore pipelines. PHMSA’s current position represents a significant departure from this agreement and the way in which PHMSA historically viewed the pipelines.

In the petition, the Attorney General and the State Fire Marshal allege that PHMSA’s orders were arbitrary and capricious and violate the Administrative Procedure Act.

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