Two things appear certain at this point: 1) California Gov. Gavin Newsom is going to run for president in 2028 on the ‘affordability’ issue that propelled President Trump to his landslide win over the hapless cackler and former VP Kamala Harris; and 2) There will be plenty of opposition research for the Republican nominee – likely Vice President Vance to bludgeon Newsom with.
The latest case in point: The coming fight over restarting the dormant oil industry off California’s shores. Trump wants to do it; Newsom will oppose him because he prefers importing expensive gasoline from abroad and keeping the prices the highest in the country in his Democrat supermajority-run state.
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order granting the Department of Energy the authority to invoke the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law from 1950. The action requires the restart of a dormant offshore oil operation along the California coast.
On the same day, Energy Secretary Chris Wright instructed Sable Offshore Corporation, a Houston-based company, to resume operations at the Santa Ynez Unit and the Santa Ynez Pipeline System off the coast of Santa Barbara County. This infrastructure has been offline since a pipeline rupture occurred in 2015.
“Today’s order will strengthen America’s oil supply and restore a pipeline system vital to our national security and defense, ensuring that West Coast military installations have the reliable energy critical to military readiness,” Wright said in a statement.
The timing isn’t a coincidence. It’s tied directly to the escalating conflict with Iran.
The war, now a few weeks old, has already rattled global energy markets. Roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day that normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz have been disrupted after Iranian officials threatened to shut the strategic chokepoint entirely. The result has been predictable: crude prices climbing toward $100 a barrel and gasoline prices in California soaring past $5.40 a gallon, according to AAA.
Washington says the national security implications are obvious. More than 60 percent of the oil refined in California comes from overseas, much of it moving through the Strait of Hormuz. With U.S. military installations along the West Coast tied into those supply chains, the administration argues the situation easily meets the threshold for action under the Defense Production Act.
But here’s the part that really undercuts California’s energy politics: the groundwork for this move appears to have been laid before the Iran crisis exploded.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel quietly issued a 22-page opinion concluding that a presidential order under the Defense Production Act could override California laws blocking the restart of the Sable pipeline. Notably, the legal memo never even mentioned Iran.
The Santa Ynez Unit is a sizable piece of energy infrastructure. It includes three offshore drilling platforms in federal waters, an onshore processing facility, and a web of pipelines running along the Santa Barbara County coastline.
For years, the system was operated by ExxonMobil. But everything came to a halt in May 2015 when an onshore pipeline operated by Plains All American ruptured near Refugio State Beach. The spill released roughly 142,000 gallons of crude oil — about 21,000 gallons of which made its way into the Pacific Ocean — making it one of the worst coastal oil spills in California’s modern history. The entire network was shut down in the aftermath.
Fast forward to 2024, when Sable Offshore purchased the system from ExxonMobil with the help of a $622 million loan from the company itself. Sable says it has repaired the pipeline and believes the infrastructure holds “massive resource potential,” arguing that restarting production could help reduce California’s heavy dependence on imported oil.
According to the company, the project could boost output from about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to more than 50,000.
The obstacle? California regulators and California Democrats, because you know why: ‘Muh climate!’ or something.
State agencies — including the California Coastal Commission and State Parks — have refused to grant the approvals needed to restart operations. The State Fire Marshal initially issued Sable a waiver to restart the line but reversed course in October 2025, saying further repairs were required. As recently as last month, a Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge ruled that Sable must still meet state regulatory requirements before any restart can move forward.
California also holds another powerful piece of leverage. The pipeline crosses Gaviota State Park, and Sable’s right-of-way agreement with the state expired in 2016. Without renewed permission to use that land, the pipeline cannot legally operate
The situation has become a legal and political knot.
Sable Offshore has already spent more than $300,000 lobbying the federal government since 2025 in an effort to navigate the maze of state regulations blocking the project’s restart.
Now the fight appears headed straight for the courts — and potentially all the way to the Supreme Court. Legal experts say using the Defense Production Act to force a private company to restart idle oil infrastructure would be highly unusual. Historically, the law has been used during wartime or major national emergencies to increase production of critical materials — not to override state environmental rules to revive a specific energy project.
California’s leadership immediately pushed back.
Enter ‘Mr. Affordability,’ Gavin Newsom. Naturally he blasted the order, calling it an “attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators are facing criminal charges and prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting.” He also vowed that the state would move quickly to challenge the move in court, because of course he did.
Newsom’s office framed the decision as a political maneuver, arguing that even if the project came back online it would contribute only about 0.05 percent of global crude production and would do little to reduce gasoline prices for consumers. But even if these stats are true – and there’s little reason to believe him on this issue – notice how he is against any attempt whatsoever to bring economic relief not just to Californians but the country as a whole.
How un-presidential.
Another Democrat from the state, Rep. Salud Carbajal, said the same thing – Sable’s operation won’t contribute much to the global daily output. But so what? It would contribute something, and something is better than nothing, which is what Democrats always seem to want when it comes to improving lives.
What critics often overlook is that the administration’s argument doesn’t hinge solely on global oil prices.
Officials say the Defense Production Act is being invoked for a different reason: national security. The goal, they argue, is to secure domestic energy supplies for U.S. military installations and reduce dependence on foreign oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic chokepoint now threatened by a hostile regime.
From that perspective, the issue isn’t whether restarting one project dramatically shifts global oil markets. It’s about ensuring reliable fuel supplies at home and reducing vulnerability to disruptions abroad.
Even if the production numbers don’t move the worldwide price of crude, the administration maintains that strengthening domestic supply chains tied to national defense is reason enough to act.
Gavin Newsom and his party have a golden opportunity to prove they are willing to do whatever it takes to strengthen our country while trying to improve peoples’ lives. It’s sickening that they, again, are choosing to do the opposite. Let’s remember this during the midterms (and, frankly, beyond).