California fights Trump administration, again, over Santa Barbara oil pipeline: The coast is 'not for sale'

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Set us as preferred California has filed another lawsuit against the Trump administration over the oil operation off the Santa Barbara County coastline, asserting in a petition filed Monday that the federal government — again — improperly permitted continued pipeline use.The new lawsuit, filed in the U.S.9th Circuit Court of Appeals, asks the court to strike down what it called an “unlawful” permit issued last month to Sable Offshore Corp from the U.S.

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.The special permit waives the Texas-based company’s compliance with a federal pipeline regulation and asserts that the federal agency has oversight of the oil venture.

The filing from state Atty.Gen.

Rob Bonta is the latest in a string of challenges from California to the company’s restarting of three offshore oil rigs and related pipelines — which are proving to be a flashpoint between the state’s commitment to environmental protection and the president’s push for more U.S.-produced crude.“California’s coastline is not for sale to enrich the president’s fossil fuel friends,” Bonta said in a statement.“No matter how many times the administration attempts to help Sable evade state regulation, my office will see them in court at every illegal turn and continue to protect California’s communities and environment.”Sable Offshore was bound by a court order not to restart its oil pipelines.

It got Trump’s help to circumvent the order.Neither a spokesperson from the U.S.Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration nor Sable responded to a request for comment.

But in the special permit, administration officials responded to more than 12,000 public comments, and said federal regulators had “determined that the special permit maintains pipeline safety” and that they continued to ha...