Jan 23 (Reuters) – California’s attorney general on Friday said the state was suing the Trump administration for asserting federal authority over two state pipelines and permitting Sable Offshore to restart pumping oil through them.
The lawsuit is the latest turn in a dispute between Sable and California state officials over a drilling project off the coast of Santa Barbara that was shut down following a 2015 oil spill.
It is among the slew of conflicts between U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to supercharge domestic fossil fuel production, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has championed his state’s ambitious climate change agenda and is among Trump’s harshest critics.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in a statement, said the administration broke the law by reclassifying the Las Flores pipelines last month as “interstate” even though they run between two California counties.
The reclassification allowed the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which regulates interstate pipelines, to issue an emergency permit to restart operations.
The petition will be filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the attorney general’s office said.
(Reporting by Nichola GroomEditing by Rod Nickel)
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