California regulators moved this week toward penalizing a controversial offshore oil company that restarted a pipeline with support from the Trump administration over state objections.
What happened: Kate Huckelbridge, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, sent a letter Tuesday to Sable Offshore Corporation, which owns a trio of oil platforms off the state’s Central Coast.
Huckelbridge wrote that she intends to “commence proceedings for issuance by the commission of a cease and desist order to Sable and imposition of an administrative penalty” due to the company’s unpermitted restart of its pipeline connecting offshore wells to onshore facilities.
Why it matters: The move represents an escalation of California’s attempt to assert authority over Sable and box out Washington, which has waded forcefully into the matter on Sable’s side. Efforts by the state to halt the company’s restart through lawsuits have so far failed.
