On January 23, 2026, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) orders that assert exclusive jurisdiction over two California onshore oil pipelines, known as the Las Flores Pipelines, and an attempt to force the reopening of these pipelines that had been closed for safety reasons. 

On December 17, 2025, PHMSA illegally reclassified the Las Flores Pipelines that run from Santa Barbara County to Kern County as “interstate.” The reclassification infringes on state sovereignty by purporting to shift oversight over the pipelines from the State Fire Marshal to PHMSA even though the pipelines originate at Las Flores Canyon in Santa Barbara County and remain solely within California. Before December 17, 2025, PHMSA had classified these onshore pipelines as “intrastate” pipelines subject to State safety regulation and oversight. On December 22, 2025, PHMSA issued an order approving Sable Offshore Corp.’s (Sable) Restart Plan to restart oil production based on Trump’s “National Energy Emergency” executive order that Attorney General Bonta has previously challenged.

The onshore pipelines have been shut down for a decade since the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill, when a corroded segment of one pipeline ruptured and released hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil near Santa Barbara. The oil spill caused serious harm to public health and safety and resulted in a Consent Decree — to which PHMSA was a party — that acknowledged and approved the State Fire Marshal’s role in reviewing and approving any planned restart of the pipelines. PHMSA’s current position departs significantly from this agreement.

In the lawsuit, Attorney General Bonta and the Office of the State Fire Marshal argue that PHMSA’s orders violate the Administrative Procedure Act and ask the court to overturn PHMSA’s illegal orders, which sideline state authorities and attempt to restart the oil pipelines despite ongoing concerns over their fitness and safety.

In its latest unlawful power grab, the Trump Administration is illegally claiming exclusive federal authority over two of California’s onshore pipelines. California has seen first-hand the devastating environmental and public health impacts of coastal oil spills — yet the Trump Administration will stop at nothing to evade state regulation which protects against these very disasters. The President is once again prioritizing his donors over our people and communities. California will not stand idly by as the President endangers California’s beautiful coastline and our public health to increase profits for his fossil fuel industry friends. Attorney General Rob Bonta