SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – The Department of Justice issued an opinion this week stating that the Trump Administration can use a Cold War-era law to circumvent legal and regulatory hurdles preventing a restart of oil production locally.
The slip opinion, authored by Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, argues that the President can issue an order under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA) to Sable Offshore, the Houston-based company seeking to restart oil production since purchasing oil production infrastructure from ExxonMobil in February of 2024.
"You have asked whether an order issued under the Defense Production Act of 1950 ("DPA" or "Act"), Pub. L. No. 81-774, 64 Stat. 798 (codified as amended at 50 U.S.C. § 4501 et seq.), to Sable by the President or his delegee would preempt the California laws currently impeding Sable from resuming production and operating the associated pipeline infrastructure," opened the opinion dated March 3, 2026. "We conclude that it would."
In 2024, court documents show that Sable secured a $622,000,000 loan from ExxonMobil to fund the purchase of offshore and onshore oil production infrastructure that is collectively referred to as the Santa Ynez Unit.
Since an oil pipeline rupture in 2015, oversight of any plans to restart onshore pipelines needed to transport oil from the Las Flores Canyon Facility on the Gaviota Coast -which receives and processes oil from offshore platforms- has been assigned to the Office of State Fire Marshal through a court order.
The pipeline that ruptured, formerly known as Line 901 and now known as Line CA-324, has remained dormant since its rupture in May of 2015, spilling an estimated 450,000 gallons of crude oil over 150 miles of California coastline and destroying thousands of acres of shoreline habitats.
"Ever since a catastrophic oil spill at Refugio Beach in 2015 led to a court-ordered consent decree, CAL FIRE - Office of the State Fire Marshal has been responsible for overseeing the repair of the lines that caused the spill, which are now operated by Sable Offshore Corp in Santa Barbara County," shared Daniel Villaseñor with the California Natural Resources Agency.
Tuesday's Justice Department opinion didn't limit itself to the role that California could play in regulating the restart of oil production locally. It included federal regulations as well as the existing Consent Agreement in its findings.
"We have been advised that, in addition to the United States and various State of California entities, Sable is a party to the Consent decree as a result of an acquisition," noted the opinion. "[A]n executive order under the DPA would displace these provisions of the Consent Decree, even though there are both federal- and state-law claims at issue in that