SANTA BARBARA, California — The Trump administration is in “active dialogue” on creating a petroleum reserve in California, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told POLITICO on Friday, a move that would boost oil infrastructure in the state and undermine Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bid to shrink the state’s fossil fuel footprint.
A June 2 document that lawyers for Sable Offshore Corp., which owns a trio of oil platforms off the California coast, sent to the Energy Department and seen by POLITICO shows the company has proposed a West Coast Strategic Petroleum Reserve “in response to the inquiries made by the Trump administration and in the furtherance of Sable’s ongoing discussions with the Department of War for the supply of oil and gas to California.”
Wright confirmed in an interview that such a facility is under discussion but didn’t offer details.
“California is a military launch pad for the Pacific Ocean, a huge amount of facilities here,” Wright said in an interview after a tour of Sable’s oil facilities in Santa Barbara County. “What is it that we can do to make California and our national defense more secure? It just stands out as this very unfortunate expensive energy isolated island.” The administration was “in active dialogue” about potentially setting up a reserve in the state, he added.
