Crude oil pumped from the Pacific Ocean is flowing for the first time in more than a decade through a pipeline that crosses California state park land after the Trump administration defied state officials to restart drilling off Santa Barbara, calling it essential to national security during the Iran war.

State officials call it trespassing and are asking a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge to order Sable Offshore Corp. to stop using the pipeline, which runs 4 miles through Gaviota State Park, and to remove it entirely. The Texas-based company's pipeline system had been idle since one of its pipelines ruptured in 2015 and caused one of California's worst oil spills, blackening beaches for 150 miles from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.

The spill polluted a biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing scores of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and decimating the fishing industry. A state judge previously ordered the operation stopped until Sable proved it was in compliance with state regulations. The Santa Barbara District Attorney also filed felony criminal charges against Sable, accusing it of polluting waterways and harming wildlife during pipeline repairs.

What the Right Is Saying

Energy Secretary Chris Wright invoked the Defense Production Act on March 13 to direct Sable to restart production, saying shoring up domestic oil supplies is needed to lower gas prices amid the Iran war as the Islamic Republic continues to squeeze a vital shipping channel through which one-fifth of the world's oil travels. He noted "more than 60% of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, with a significant share traveling through the Strait of Hormuz — presenting serious national security threats."

Jim Flores, Sable's chairman and chief executive officer, said April 20 that the pipeline had already produced more than 1 million barrels of oil. "We are working tirelessly to provide American oil from American soil to consumers in California and the U.S. military," he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that lawsuits by environmentalists warning that drilling could doom a rare whale species threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies amid the Iran war. The administration also exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act and approved an ultra deep-water drilling project, the first new oil field developed in the Gulf since the nation's worst offshore spill in 2010.

Sable said it is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and taking legal action "to curb state and county regulatory overreach." The company argues it has proper permits and that Wright's order supersedes all state regulations.

What the Left Is Saying

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has filed two lawsuits over the project, said "the U.S. already produces significantly more oil and gas than we use — it's a completely fabricated claim intended to curry favor with the oil industry." He is joined by Governor Gavin Newsom in challenging the federal intervention.

Deborah Sivas, a professor at Stanford Law School who studies environmental law, said the trespassing litigation is based on property rights and federal overreach. "It's not out in the ocean, in federal waters. This is actually on state property. We have a say on that — you can't just override that," she said.

Youth activist Ethan Maday, 15, of Santa Barbara called the federal intervention "an attack not only on our democracy but also the will of the people who live here." The area was the birthplace of the modern environmental movement after a 1969 oil spill gave local communities impetus to demand voice in offshore drilling decisions.

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Donna Geck ruled that case law "strongly implies that the (Defense Production Act) order, by itself, does not permit the violation of applicable state regulatory law." She kept in place an injunction she imposed last year after the California Coastal Commission fined Sable a record $18 million for ignoring cease-and-desist orders over allegations of working without proper permits.

What the Numbers Show

The U.S. Energy Department said Sable's production will help California's in-state oil production jump by 15%, replacing almost 1.5 million barrels of foreign crude oil each month. The estimated daily production is 50,000 barrels per day.

However, Paasha Mahdavi, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara who researches oil and gas governance, said the crude pulled out by Sable is heavy and costly to refine. He argued that 50,000 barrels a day "is also a drop in the bucket on the global scale and will have no impact on domestic gas supplies or prices."

The Cold War-era Defense Production Act was signed by President Harry S. Truman during the Korean War. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush previously invoked it to ensure energy suppliers continued serving California utilities during an energy crisis. Former President Joe Biden used it to boost solar manufacturing.

The Bottom Line

A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday on California's request to stop Sable's operations. The litigation represents the latest escalation in what legal experts describe as an unprecedented test of states' power to challenge federal authority, even during wartime.

Professor Mahdavi noted that while past administrations used the Defense Production Act for emergencies, "it's never been used so brazenly against a set of state regulations." He suggested the timing matters: "That's what makes this unique and perhaps why they used it after the war started. Because under normal circumstances it really would not have made it past the courts."

Sivas said the administration's expansion of the 1950 law appears aimed at ushering in its five-year plan to give the oil industry access to new offshore areas, noting courts have been reluctant to second-guess federal emergency orders during conflicts. The U.S. Department of Justice is also asking a court to modify or end a binding federal decree signed after the 2015 spill that gave California final say over restarting operations.