California: Governor Newsom exposes Trump’s Sable offshore pipeline lie: one month of oil, prices have only gone up
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Apr 17, 2026

Governor Newsom exposes Trump's Sable offshore pipeline lie: one month of oil, prices have only gone up

California court affirms state law while Trump and Wright continue to lie to the American people on behalf of Big Oil

What you need to know: A California judge today ruled that the Trump administration's illegal order on the Sable offshore oil pipeline does not cancel out previous court rulings prohibiting the pipeline from restarting without meeting legal and safety requirements. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright promised Americans that forcing the illegal restart of this California offshore pipeline would help lower gas prices nationwide. That's a lie. This week marks one month of oil flow and gas prices are over $1 more per gallon in red states and blue states, regardless of whether they pump oil or have refineries.

SACRAMENTO – Today, the Santa Barbara Superior Court ruled that Energy Secretary Chris Wright's Defense Production Act order does not nullify its injunction barring Sable Offshore Corp. from operating its pipeline without state approval. The ruling is a rebuke of the Trump administration and Sable's ploy to illegally use emergency powers to bypass California law.

A California court just confirmed what we have said all along: Trump and his Big Oil donors are not above the law.

One month into Trump's haphazard Iran war, Americans are getting zero cents of relief at the pump from Sable like Chris Wright promised, because no drop in the bucket like Sable can make up for Trump's war choking off a fifth of the world's oil supply. Meanwhile, a lawbreaking oil company is raking in the profits while Americans are paying billions more for gas at the pump.

When there's money to be made and a scapegoat to blame, Trump never lets a crisis of his own making go to waste. Not on our watch.

Governor Gavin Newsom

This week marks one month after the Trump administration illegally invoked emergency powers to force the restart of the Sable Offshore Corp pipeline, and the results are exactly what was expected: gas prices continue to rise nationwide. Today, Americans are paying a growing $10 billion more at the pump than before Trump's reckless war began.

A trail of nonsensical lies

On March 8, as gas prices spiked nationwide because of Trump's Iran war, Energy Secretary Wright said on CBS's Face the Nation, "We have a temporary period of elevated energy prices, but it will not be long. In the worst case, this is weeks — this is not months, and it leads to a better place." Today, we know that was either a lie or grossly negligent planning.

One week later, Energy Secretary Wright appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and pointed to the Sable pipeline restart as one of the actions the Trump administration was taking to bring gas prices down. "We've got new oil production coming on in California," Wright said. "So lots of actions we're taking to mitigate this price rise."

Sable promised that the project would "offer Californians immediate relief at the pump by making gas more affordable." That was Sable's latest effort to mislead the public and its investors about its operations — efforts that have prompted federal investigations and lawsuits by Sable investors.

Fast forward to this month, gas prices are up more than a dollar per gallon in every single state. And this week, Secretary Wright accidentally let the truth slip out: "We're going to see energy prices high and maybe even rising until we get… meaningful ship traffic through the Straits of Hormuz."

Trump's war with Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, trapping an estimated 20% of the global oil supply. Since oil trades at a global price, American crude sells to the highest bidder, not at a discount for American consumers. According to Bloomberg, oil from the Sable Offshore pipeline is a "drop in the bucket." It amounts to 1/2000th (0.05%) of total oil production, which would have no meaningful impact on lowering global oil prices. No pipeline in Santa Barbara County will make up for the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

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On April 7, President Trump's own Energy Information Agency administrator admitted that fuel prices will continue to rise unless there's a solution to the closure of the Strait.

This week, Trump confessed that gas prices "could be the same or maybe a little bit higher" by November.

A pipeline with a devastating record

The last time this pipeline operated, it was catastrophic. In 2015, 142,000 gallons of crude oil spilled onshore near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County, causing 21,000 gallons to flow into the Pacific Ocean. Thousands of birds and marine mammals were killed, and 138 square miles of fisheries were closed for weeks, which triggered a $22.3 million settlement. Tourism was hammered. Fishing families lost their livelihoods. Communities bore hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs.

The Sable pipeline has been offline since that spill, and it is barred by a 2020 federal court order from restarting absent approval of California safety inspectors. That order also required the pipeline operator to pay more than $60 million for damages to the State's natural resources and penalties, and to reimburse agencies for the cost of cleaning up the coast.

Under SB 237 (2025), authored by Senate President pro Tem Monique Limón and Assemblymember Gregg Hart, enacted with strong bipartisan support in the Legislature, and signed by Governor Newsom, any restart must meet new, more rigorous safety requirements. These requirements exist precisely because of what happened in 2015. They are not bureaucratic obstacles. They are sensible safety measures that respond to the pipeline leak in 2015 and the devastating impacts it had on California's coastal communities, wildlife and economy.

In January, the State Fire Marshal in Governor Newsom's Administration, along with Attorney General Rob Bonta, challenged the Trump administration's attempt to federalize these pipelines and bypass state oversight, and in a separate case in state court in Santa Barbara, a judge has issued an injunction barring Sable from restarting until all state approvals are secured and recently denied Sable's request to lift that injunction. Additionally, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney has brought criminal charges against Sable for alleged violations of California water-protection laws.

California is taking legal action to enforce these binding court orders and state law against Sable, and to challenge the Trump Administration's unlawful reliance on emergency powers. A presidential executive order cannot override state law. Additionally, Sable currently lacks legal permission for its pipeline to cross Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County because its agreement with the State terminated in 2016, and Sable may not keep or operate its pipeline on State property without the State's permission.

The cost of offshore oil and gas drilling: dead wildlife, devastated communities, billions of dollars in damages

This isn't Trump's first attempt to put California's coast at risk for the benefit of Big Oil. In January, Governor Newsom joined the governors of Oregon and Washington to formally oppose Trump's plan to open the California coast to new offshore oil and gas drilling for the first time in decades. Well blowouts, pipeline ruptures, and catastrophic spills are inherent risks of offshore oil and gas drilling, not isolated incidents. These disasters cost billions of dollars, take decades to remediate, and cause devastating impacts to marine ecosystems and coastal communities that depend on a clean, sustainable ocean environment for their livelihoods. These aren't hypothetical risks. They're California's reality. A few notable, major oil spills off the Golden State's coast include:
  • 2021 Amplify Spill, Huntington Beach: approximately 25,000 gallons of crude oil spilled; Amplify charged $210 million in civil and criminal penalties, $12 million in criminal fees, and an additional $5.9 million in cleanup costs.
  • 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill: Over 4.2 million gallons spilled from a platform blowout, prompting the launch of the modern environmental movement.

California's conservation leadership in action

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The Golden State is leading the nation in protecting its natural resources. Through California's 30×30 initiative, a commitment to conserve 30% of the state's lands and coastal waters by 2030, California added over 1 million acres (https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/07/07/amid-trumps-assault-on-public-lands-california-conserves-over-one-million-acres-of-land-and-coastal-waters-in-just-one-year/) of conserved land and waters in a single year. That's larger than the entire state of Rhode Island.

Under Governor Newsom's leadership in just the last year, California helped establish two new national monuments (https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.gov.ca.gov%2F2025%2F01%2F07%2Fgovernor-newsom-celebrates-president-bidens-action-adding-two-new-national-monuments-protecting-sacred-tribal-lands%2F%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/0101019b3844d33b-bc6f49b5-a3fb-4bff-8359-46f5ed29045f-000000/lXI9iwDlSiCAg1U6z_QN2b0FvK6zQHIiaPqDNGFUrCU=436), launched a major project restoring shallow water habitats at the Salton Sea (https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.gov.ca.gov%2F2025%2F05%2F22%2Fcalifornia-reaches-major-restoration-milestone-at-the-salton-sea%2F%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/0101019b3844d33b-bc6f49b5-a3fb-4bff-8359-46f5ed29045f-000000/SZTQI1nfqAZ8tN4w7aRarbC3Dnv40HFfStoLHfQIWV8=436), and received international recognition for protecting marine habitats (https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.gov.ca.gov%2F2025%2F10%2F10%2Fcalifornia-makes-history-as-one-of-first-states-seeking-to-join-the-international-union-for-conservation-of-nature%2F%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/0101019b3844d33b-bc6f49b5-a3fb-4bff-8359-46f5ed29045f-000000/2N4nGKWHXVT3Coqqh2fqqSyp512yHytu00LbBE4ZMjs=436). California is also ensuring that all residents can access the state's natural wonders with programs like State Parks' discount pass programs (https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.parks.ca.gov%2F%3Fpage_id=1049%26utm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery%23:~:text=feet%2520in%2520width.-,Discount%2520Passes,-California%2520State%2520Park/1/0101019b3844d33b-bc6f49b5-a3fb-4bff-8359-46f5ed29045f-000000/tV5Pk7qJ14seTH6doxkd40e8Hywpun26iwvXmywf_b8=436) and our Youth Community Access Program (https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.gov.ca.gov%2F2025%2F10%2F07%2Fmore-parks-for-kids-california-invests-38-million-to-boost-outdoor-opportunities-for-youth-as-trump-limits-access%2F%3Futm_medium=email%26utm_source=govdelivery/1/0101019b3844d33b-bc6f49b5-a3fb-4bff-8359-46f5ed29045f-000000/Wla9qemWKjWEb22KTKgMpFZE-TQcBQW7BwcpzkcziRA=436).

California's coast isn't just an environmental treasure—it's also an economic powerhouse (https://opc.ca.gov/sustainable-blue-economy/) that supports local jobs and businesses, generating over $51 billion annually.

Press releases (https://www.gov.ca.gov/category/press-releases/), Recent news (https://www.gov.ca.gov/category/recent-news/)

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