Oil and Gaslighting Gavin Newsom Rides Again

Another oil and gaslighting press release from California Governor Gavin Newsom was sent Friday at 5:00pm, claiming that oil prices have gone up because of President Trump.

Enjoy Newsom’s toothless claims in Fridays’s press dump:

“Governor Newsom exposes Trump’s Sable offshore pipeline lie: one month of oil, prices have only gone up.”

“California court affirms state law while Trump and Wright continue to lie to the American people on behalf of Big Oil.”

“What you need to know: A California judge today ruled that the Trump administration’s illegal order on the Sable offshore oil pipeline does not cancel out previous court rulings prohibiting the pipeline from restarting without meeting legal and safety requirements. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright promised Americans that forcing the illegal restart of this California offshore pipeline would help lower gas prices nationwide. That’s a lie. This week marks one month of oil flow and gas prices are over $1 more per gallon in red states and blue states, regardless of whether they pump oil or have refineries.”

Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge Donna D. Geck, ruled Friday, that the Trump administration’s March 2026 order—issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright under the Defense Production Act – does not override or nullify her existing preliminary injunction against restarting the Sable Offshore Corp.’s onshore pipelines.

Sable is expected to appeal the State Court Judge Geck’s ruling.

The headline from Governor Newsom’s office frames the restart of the Sable Offshore Santa Ynez Unit pipeline system off Santa Barbara as a “lie” by the Trump administration, claiming it was promised to lower oil and gas prices but has instead coincided with rising prices after one month.

The Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. operates the Santa Ynez Unit in federal waters offshore California.

As the Globe reported in March, “President Donald J. Trump has the authority to restart an oil pipeline project off the Santa Barbara coast by invoking the Defense Production Act, the Department of Justice said in a legal opinion, to override California laws blocking the restart of offshore oil production and the Santa Ynez Pipeline System.”

The administration’s goals are to boost domestic supply, reduce reliance on foreign oil – especially for California refineries and West Coast military needs – and address supply risks from state-level restrictions.

The Executive Order, Adjusting Certain Delegations Under the Defense Production Act,” specifies the “National Defense Resources Preparedness.”

Sable’s pipelines can ship up to 200,000 barrels per day of oil and it had accumulated 540,000 barrels of processed crude oil in storage after it restarted one of the Santa Ynez platforms last year, Reuters reported.

Sable reported resuming flow in mid-March 2026 and targeting sales of 50,000 barrels per day by early April, with potential to ramp higher. This volume represents a modest addition: roughly 3% of California’s refining capacity or a tiny fraction (0.5% or less) of total U.S. daily crude production (which hit record levels above 13 million barrels per day in 2025), Reuters said.

“Despite the pipeline’s restart, California is still seeking ways to block the project.”

Of course Democrats are seeking ways to block the project.

The California Department of Parks and Recreation even “demanded that Sable immediately remove a portion of its pipeline crossing Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County.”

That didn’t go so well.

Sable sued the state parks department requesting declaratory relief to confirm its rights under the Defense Production Act, and the company is pursuing all financing options, including federal credit support, it said in a statement.

This is what California Democrats do. They can’t build anything, they can’t improve anything, they can’t deliver services to the public, so they tear down.

As the Globe has reported, California Governor Gavin Newsom is destroying the state’s oil and gas industry, and it appears to be deliberate. Newsom is presiding over perhaps the largest collapse of the oil industry, refinery operations and gasoline production in U.S. history.

Last month, Marathon Petroleum, Chevron and PBF Energy sent a blistering warning to Governor Newsom and top state officials in a letter declaring that proposed amendments to the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Cap-and-Invest program would destroy what is left of California oil refineries.

Most California residents know that California’s self-inflicted gasoline crisis is not only increasing prices at the pump, but increasing dependency on foreign oil suppliers and shippers to supply fuels to the Golden State. California’s self-inflicted gas crisis is also a direct threat to U.S. military force readiness on the West Coast, the Globe reported in October.

California imports over 70% of its crude oil from foreign sources, because it produces less than 23% of its own in-state petroleum needs, and that’s before the refinery closures, so it’s much less now. The oil and gas industry in California account for nearly 8% of the state’s GDP. Without oil and gas, the other 92% of the state’s GDP would be impossible to attain, petroleum expert Mike Ariza, USC Professor Michael Mische and Assemblyman Stan Ellis have been warning.

In March, Sable Offshore Corp. CEO Jim Flores urged Gov. Newsom to do the “math” as Newsom vowed to stop offshore drilling, Fox News reported. Flores said the pipeline restart will fill 6 million cars a month.

Flores added that much of the newly produced fuel would be “used by the 50 military bases in California, Nevada and Arizona.”

“And that’s the reason why Trump invoked the Defense Production Act,” he said. “He has to make sure those military bases and those sailors and airmen and so forth have fuel for their jets and their boats.”

As our oil and gas experts continue to say, increasing domestic production – onshore, offshore, or federal lands – can enhance security and moderate long-term prices/refining margins, especially for California, which imports significant crude despite its own resources. Opposing it prioritizes environmental caution but can increase import dependence during shocks.

U.S. oil production remains at or near records. Prices are volatile due to geopolitics, not solely pipelines. Claims that any single modest project is a panacea or a total failure oversimplify commodity markets.

The Sable restart adds important domestic supply in federal waters during a supply-stressed period, but it has only been operational for one month.