One thing I'll give this 'drill, baby, drill' administration - they don't take 'no' for an answer.
President Trump and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have thrown all their muscle into getting the U.S. on track for complete energy independence and as close to world dominance in the export market as possible. Much of that effort has been successful, even using their latest off-the-wall schemes, where they buy back old federal offshore wind leases and turn them around into energy investments.
California has been a particular burr under the saddle blanket not only because the natural resource-rich state is so committed to renewable green energy, carbon-neutral suicide, but because of the national security implications involved in having a jet-fuel and gasoline-starved West Coast dependent on supplies from nations expected to be the adversaries who would attack.
It's an intolerable situation growing more dire by the day, and Trump isn't one to let something like that fester.
He is more than willing to plague Newsom and his Democrat toadies in Sacramento into submission.
The first strike at rejuvenating California's languishing oil industry came when Sable Oil Company announced a little over a year ago that they had refurbished one of the nearly derelict offshore platforms just off the Santa Ynez coastline, as well as repaired a blown-out pipeline from the platforms to an inland oil storage facility in Los Flores Canyon. California cultists, along with the California Coastal Commission zealots, swung into action immediately and, before you knew it, the Sable platform plan was dead in the water and tied up in court.
Then the Iranian action precipitated a worldwide oil crunch. The Sable platforms are in federal, not state, waters, so Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to get the oil pumping again. The California Coastal Commission (CCC) went to court again to get it all shut down, managed to find the stooge judges who agreed that state law overruled federal law (!), and that's where we last saw the oil from the platform.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick served up a plateful of, 'Make sure all your laundry is clean - as in sparkling.'
A new federal review threatens California's power to protect its coastline from oil and gas exploration. https://t.co/ksrLPW9Eme
— KQED Science (@KQEDscience) June 29, 2026
The thought that some federal usurper, especially one with Trump ties, might dare to investigate the myriad abuses of power that the CCC has indulged in over the decades of its existence has brought out all the shrieking green eels to wail and moan under the light of a full moon.
Okay. I made that last bit up.
WE DID NOT CONSENT
In a striking demonstration of support, hundreds of fired-up Californians rallied in Santa Monica to speak out against the Trump administration’s attempt to wrest local control over the state’s treasured coastline.
The Golden State’s top environmental leaders, along with prominent elected officials, environmentalists, business coalitions, community activists, Indigenous groups and everyday citizens, packed a public hearing Monday before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Coastal Management, which has been tasked with conducting an unprecedented investigation that could ultimately strip California of its power to say no to federal projects.
Experts see the investigation — framed as a performance review of the state’s coastal management practices — as a thinly veiled attempt by Trump officials to open California’s coast to more offshore oil drilling, more rocket launches and possibly even floating nuclear reactors. If the federal government succeeds, many worry it could set the stage for similar actions in other coastal states.
“I’m scared, not because we haven’t built something worth protecting — we have. I’m scared because this meeting is performance theater. In some ways, the decision seems already made,” said Maureen Ellenberger, a resident of Santa Barbara who said she is haunted by the possibility of another oil spill. “But I’m speaking today anyway, so there’s a record. So years from now… everyone will know we fought, that we did not consent.”
This is the possibility that has the environmental extremists so upset:
...Citing California’s “environmental extremism,” Trump officials are attempting to decertify the state’s authority under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, or CZMA. The act grants coastal states the right to review and object to any project in federal waters that clashes with state policy.
And this is the catalyst for the clash. Much as with the hopefully only stalled Sable project, a new proposal from an evil oil company to frack offshore was met with immediate resistance from the CCC.
Never mind that the fracking would take place utilizing already existing oil wells.
A Southern California oil company is trying to launch the state’s first new offshore fracking project in over a decade, potentially paving the way for more of the controversial extraction work along the coast and setting the stage for a dust-up between California and the Trump administration.
The federal government recently fast-tracked an environmental review for DCOR LLC to boost oil production using high-pressure fluid injections in federally managed waters near Ventura, northwest of Los Angeles. Under the proposal, fracking would take place at up to 16 existing oil wells on Platform Gilda, 9 miles offshore in the Santa Barbara Channel.
DCOR has described the project as being in the nation’s interest by reducing dependence on foreign oil and efficiently tapping new fossil fuel reserves.
State regulators at the California Coastal Commission, however, have drafted a report highly critical of the plan. They say the project carries a significant risk of an oil spill, threatening “some of the most ecologically significant and protected ocean waters on the entire West Coast.”
The Coastal Commission also questions whether the federal government has conducted a court-ordered environmental review of fracking in California before moving ahead with new projects — a requirement stemming from a long legal battle with the state and environmental groups over the practice. Critics say the administration may be looking to sidestep what has essentially been a statewide moratorium on new offshore fracking.
The well-organized opposition had all the usual suspects out playing their parts for dramatic effect at the protest for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) meeting. It's like they could do this stuff in their sleep.
...Indigenous leaders said California’s waters are sacred and have been subject to enough harm.
“The ocean provides for us as a mother provides for her children,” said Antonette Cordero, board member of the groups Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples, Surfrider Foundation and Environmental Defense Center.
“We will continue to stand up for our mother ocean and for all of her relatives, all of her inhabitants and all of those who call this coast home,” Cordero said.
Lutnick was pretty clear when he made his first announcement about the CCC's recertification - we don't play ball like that anymore.
...“America must continue to lead in innovation, space exploration, and economic strength,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a May press release. “Obstructionist policies that delay critical national infrastructure in the name of environmental extremism are unacceptable.”
As for the Sable Offshore scrum, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit yesterday partially dismissed the environmental groups' lawsuit and left the Los Flores pipeline's federal designation intact.
Sable Offshore Corp.'s pipeline will retain its federal designation after a federal appeals panel partially dismissed a lawsuit brought by environmental groups. https://t.co/TVKyqpfQKP
— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw) August 13, 2026
What didn't get settled was what the state could do about the portion of a now-federal pipeline running through state waters. But it's progress in the right direction.
Another pipeline deal was making news at the same time. This one could provide some much-needed energy security and financial relief for oil industry types and CA consumers alike if, and only if, the new owners can get the California Public Utilities Commission to buy off on it.
Good luck, fellas.
Huge breakthrough for California gas as oil giant buys critical pipeline that links network of refineries
A California oil giant is set to buy a critical pipeline between Kern County’s oil fields and Bay Area refineries that has been shuttered for months.
California Resources Corp. purchased about 2,000 miles of pipeline from Denver-based CorEnergy Infrastructure Trust Inc, and plans to reopen the route that has been closed since December.
The $63 million deal will allow CRC to transport up to an additional 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day and reopening work could start as early as October 1.
The deal is not final as the California Public Utilities Commission will need to give them permission to proceed.
The company asked for its approval on June 16 to buy some of the assets, with the CPUC set to hold a vote on Thursday.
God knows someone could use a break in that state, not that anyone in office is inclined to give them one.
...CRC’s purchase could benefit a struggling energy industry in California that has been restrained at times by state policies.
Consumers in California pay some of the highest utlity costs in the nation — and it’s set to get worse.
Pacific Gas & Electric’s 16 million customers may see fees spike by as much as $840 by 2030, according to a forecast from California Public Utilities Commission’s Public Advocates Office this week.
The current average cost for gas and electricity is $285 per month — or about $3,420 per year — which is an 84% increase since 2016 figures.
Stay tuned.
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