Gas prices soaring, Trump administration sets stage to OK controversial offshore oil plan
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As the war in Iran sends global fuel prices soaring, the U.S.Department of Justice has released a legal opinion claiming that President Trump has the authority to override California laws and regulations that have blocked a controversial offshore oil operation by invoking the Defense Production Act.
The 22-page opinion, published this week by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, takes aim at the many state regulators and agencies that have not yet approved production plans from Sable Offshore Corp.— the Houston-based firm that has struggled to revive long-dormant oil infrastructure along the Santa Barbara County coast.
The opinion calls the networks of offshore rigs and connected pipelines “a critical energy resource on the West Coast.” According to the opinion, a presidential order issued under the Defense Production Act of 1950 “would preempt the California laws currently impeding Sable from resuming production and operating the associated pipeline infrastructure.” Business Gas prices are on the rise amid U.S.conflict with IranThe Defense Production Act provides the president broad authorities to influence domestic industry in the interest of national defense or emergencies.
It has been used, by former President Biden to help respond the COVID-19 pandemic, while Trump invoked the act last March in order to ramp up domestic mineral production.A representative for Sable declined to comment on the opinion.
But the company has spent months courting the Trump administration for increased support of its project, especially after several legal setbacks, increasingly cumbersome state laws and ongoing financial losses have left its future in limbo.Sable’s proposal has generated intense pushback, particularly because it seeks to restart a pipeline that ruptured in 2015, causing one of biggest oil spills in state history.That pipeline, which Sable says it has fully ...