Wright invokes Defense Production Act to override California, restart Sable oil pipelines
On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order delegating his Defense Production Act authority to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who that same day ordered Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the Santa Ynez Unit and its offshore pipeline system along the California coast. The lines had been shut since the 2015 Refugio oil spill and remained subject to California regulatory approval; invoking the 1950 national-defense statute let the administration override the state hold, and oil resumed flowing on March 14. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued days later, calling the order executive overreach that purported to authorize illegal oil transportation through state-regulated pipelines.
Actors
- Chris Wright
- Donald Trump
- U.S. Department of Energy
On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order delegating his authority under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to Energy Secretary Chris Wright. That same day, Wright issued a "Pipeline Capacity Prioritization and Allocation Order" directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the Santa Ynez Unit and the Santa Ynez Pipeline System, which run from Las Flores Canyon to Pentland Station off the Santa Barbara County coast.
The pipelines had been shut since the 2015 Refugio oil spill and remained subject to California regulatory approval before any restart. By invoking a national-defense statute, the administration overrode the state hold and the pipeline-safety re-certification process that state law conditioned on reopening the lines. Oil resumed flowing on March 14, 2026, with the operator reporting an expected gross rate exceeding 50,000 barrels per day.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued days later, describing the order as executive overreach that purported to authorize illegal oil transportation through state-regulated pipelines. The order parallels a separate June 4, 2026 DPA invocation directing roughly $700 million to the coal industry — together suggesting a pattern of stretching the statute's national-defense powers to advance fossil-fuel priorities and bypass statutory and state limits.
Why we recorded this
The Defense Production Act is a 1950 national-defense statute meant to mobilize industry for genuine security emergencies, not to settle commercial energy disputes. Here the administration used it to compel a private company to restart offshore oil pipelines that California regulators had kept closed since the 2015 Refugio spill, overriding the state's authority and bypassing the safety re-certification the law conditions such a restart on. When emergency wartime powers are stretched to override ordinary statutory procedures and a state's regulatory authority, the separation of powers and the rule-of-law limits that are supposed to constrain the executive are weakened.
Sources
- Secretary Wright Directs Sable Offshore to Restore the Santa Ynez Unit and Pipeline — U.S. Department of Energy primary accessed June 11, 2026
- Trump administration invokes emergency powers to restart oil operations off California coast — POLITICO primary accessed June 11, 2026
- Attorney General Bonta Files Lawsuit Against the Trump Administration to Stop Executive Overreach — California Department of Justice primary accessed June 11, 2026
- Sable Resumes Oil Flow as Ordered by the Federal DPA — Sable Offshore Corp. secondary accessed June 11, 2026
See also
- Trump exempts 180+ facilities from Clean Air Act air-toxics rules via an EPA email inbox
- State Department declares emergency to bypass Congress on $151.8M Israel bomb sale
- State Department declares wartime emergency to bypass Congress on $23B in Mideast arms sales
- Trump invokes Defense Production Act to direct ~$700M to the coal industry
- Trump signs second federal-elections executive order asserting presidential control over voter eligibility and mail voting