California on Monday escalated its legal efforts to halt the restart of a controversial offshore oil operation, after the Trump administration invoked its national security powers to order it reopened.
What happened: California Attorney General Rob Bonta, on behalf of the state, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California asking a judge to declare unlawful Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s order that Sable Offshore restart its pipeline system.
Why it matters: The suit represents a major legal clash between California and the Trump administration over the balance of power between the federal and state governments.
“If allowed to stand, the Wright order would displace California’s broad and comprehensive state environmental, pipeline safety, coastal management, and common law frameworks,” the California Department of Justice attorneys argued in the suit. “This violation of the constitutional separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches is yet another attempt by the current federal administration to undermine the rule of law and to eviscerate a co-equal branch of the federal government.”
