President Donald Trump's administration is considering invoking a 1950 war mobilization law to override legal impediments to restarting a pipeline that would transport oil being produced offshore California.
The Trump administration since last year has pushed to restart a network of pipelines that would allow US independent Sable Offshore to start selling crude it is producing from offshore platforms off the coast of southern California. Federal regulators in December asserted to have control over the pipelines, but a state judge last month halted the restart of the pipeline, citing a consent decree that had resolved a state lawsuit over a massive spill from the pipeline in 2015.
The administration is now considering an alternative to restarting the shuttered oil pipeline by using the Defense Production Act of 1950. Under a legal opinion the US Department of Justice published on 3 March, the administration asserted the ability to use the Korean War-era law to preempt both state law and the consent decree.
"The [law] authorizes the President to regulate private entities in ways that may be inconsistent with state law" the legal opinion said.
US presidents have used the Defense Production Act to fast-track the production of military equipment, critical minerals and even medical devices needed to address Covid-19. But no president has previously invoked the law to override state laws limiting pipeline operations. According to the memo, Sable Offshore asked US energy secretary Chris Wright to invoke the law to require Sable to operate the pipeline system as a way to preempt California state law.
Sable Offshore did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump administration officials have already indicated they are looking for ways to address spiking oil prices sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran. The administration has a "whole flow chart of tools" to bring down prices, White House national economic council director Kevin Hassett said on Friday. Invoking the Defense Production Act to restart the pipeline would likely trigger a lawsuit from California, which says the pipeline needs to meet stringent pressure testing requirements before it can restart.
