California is suing the federal government for taking regulatory authority over Sable Offshore Corp.’s Las Flores Pipeline System. The pipeline, which was shut down following the 2015 Refugio oil spill, is critical to restarting oil production in the Santa Ynez Unit.
In a petition filed on January 23, 2026, California challenged three actions by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA): its assertion of regulatory authority over the Las Flores pipelines, approval of Sable’s restart plan before completion of state-mandated safety requirements, and approval of the company’s request for an “emergency special permit” that waives certain safety rules. Attorney General Rob Bonta said the Trump administration was “illegally claiming exclusive federal authority over two of California’s onshore pipelines.”
In early December, Sable requested that the federal government take regulatory oversight of the pipeline system away from the California Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM), arguing that the pipeline was an interstate pipeline under the Pipeline Safety Act rather than an intrastate public under state regulation.
While the pipeline system connects the Santa Ynez Unit to the Pentland Station terminal in Kern County, the PHMSA determined that the pipeline was an interstate pipeline because it transports oil from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in federal waters to an onshore processing facility. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regulated the pipeline until 2016, when the pipeline owners cancelled its FERC tariff and changed its status to an intrastate pipeline. (A FERC tariff allows a pipeline to transport oil in interstate commerce at specific rates and terms.)
The PHMSA stated in its letter that a pipeline that originates in the federal OCS is an interstate pipeline even if it does not have a FERC tariff. Shortly after gaining jurisdiction, the PHMSA approved Sable’s request for an “emergency” waiver from federal safety regulations over the restart of the pipeline.
Prior to California’s lawsuit, environmental groups sued the Trump administration on December 24, 2025 over its approval of Sable’s request for an “emergency” waiver from federal safety regulations over the restart of the Las Flores Pipeline System. The groups argued that the administration bypassed federal requirements in its approval of the pipeline restart plan. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, meanwhile, rejected the environmental groups’ attempt to stay the approval of Sable Offshore Corp.’s pipeline restart plan.