The company behind the restart of an oil pipeline along Santa Barbara County's Gaviota Coast is asking the Trump administration to use eminent domain to acquire state and private land along its pipeline route, according to a letter obtained by Politico.
Texas-based Sable Offshore Corp. submitted the June 2 letter to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The proposal comes as the Trump administration considers creating a West Coast Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
In the letter, Sable asks the department to condemn three areas crossed by its Las Flores Pipeline System. Those areas include four miles through Gaviota State Park, roughly three miles of state-owned submerged land off the Santa Barbara coast, and a privately owned parcel north of Buellton in the Zaca Preserve.
Under federal law, the DOE has authority to use eminent domain for pipelines needed to develop, operate or maintain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Legal experts told Politico that if the federal government were to condemn the land, it could reduce California's ability to regulate portions of the pipeline system by placing them under federal control.
Sable Offshore and the DOE did not respond in time for publication.
The letter is drawing criticism from environmental groups, which argue using federal eminent domain authority to acquire California public lands for a privately owned oil pipeline would exceed the government's authority.
"We think that would be an extreme overreach of federal authority and really an assault on state sovereignty, for the government to seize such lands and override safety and environmental laws, which California maintains to protect our precious lands," said Talia Nimmer, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity's Climate Law Institute.
Nimmer said her organization would challenge any attempt to condemn the land if the DOE approves the request.
The request comes as Sable continues to face multiple legal disputes over its Santa Ynez Unit operations.
The company purchased the offshore oil platforms and Las Flores Pipeline System from ExxonMobil in 2024. The pipeline had been shut down since the 2015 Refugio oil spill, when a rupture released about 123,000 gallons of crude oil near Refugio State Beach, fouling roughly 150 miles of California coastline.
In March, the Trump administration invoked the Defense Production Act and directed Sable to restart pipeline operations, citing national energy needs. The company resumed transporting oil shortly afterward.
California has since sued the federal government over that order, arguing it improperly bypassed state authority. Environmental organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Wishtoyo Foundation and the Environmental Defense Center, also continue to challenge the pipeline's restart in court, arguing Sable resumed operations without obtaining all required state approvals.
Separately, the California Department of Parks and Recreation has sued Sable over the section of pipeline that crosses Gaviota State Park, alleging the company lacks authorization to operate there.
