SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Sable Offshore Corp. has reportedly asked the Trump administration to exercise eminent domain to condemn and seize miles of private and state-owned land in California, including part of a popular state park and submerged land off the Santa Barbara coast, in the company’s latest attempt to facilitate continued operation of the dangerous Las Flores Pipeline System.

If approved, the seizures would be a major handout to Sable, which has been operating the pipeline system in violation of numerous California environmental laws and existing court orders.

“Seizing a big chunk of one of California’s most beautiful parks to boost a private oil company would be an unlawful and utterly outrageous abuse of federal power,” said Talia Nimmer, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Trump officials should think twice before granting this shameless request. California’s coast took a massive hit from this pipeline system’s last leak, and we’ll fight to protect our ocean from another massive oil spill.”

In a June 2 letter to the U.S. Department of Energy made public this week by Politico, Sable reportedly says that two areas of “potential condemnation are required or advisable” and a third should be considered for “potential condemnation” because of a landowner dispute. In all, the letter reportedly asks the federal government to seize three different areas to facilitate its operation of the Las Flores Pipeline System:

• An approximately 3-mile stretch of state-owned submerged land off the coast of Santa Barbara.
• A large portion of Gaviota State Park, where approximately four miles of the pipelines traverse.
• A privately owned piece of undeveloped land that the pipelines cross north of Buellton.

The pipeline system had been shut down since 2015, after it ruptured and spilled 450,000 gallons of crude oil at Refugio State Beach. The oil spill devastated 150 miles of the California coast, killing hundreds of birds and marine mammals and shutting down beaches and fisheries. Investigators found that the spill was the result of external corrosion, and the pipeline still does not meet federal corrosion prevention standards.

Sable purchased the unit in 2024 from ExxonMobil and restarted the pipelines in March, one day after the Trump administration issued an order under the Defense Production Act directing the company to “prioritize and allocate pipeline transportation services for hydrocarbons…” and “immediately commence performance under contracts or orders for services.”

Numerous legal challenges have been filed over the pipelines’ restart. The state of California has filed a lawsuit to challenge the Trump administration’s March order as well as a preliminary injunction request to stop the transportation of oil through the pipelines.

And last year, the Center for Biological Diversity and Wishtoyo Foundation, along with their partners at the Environmental Defense Center, won an injunction prohibiting restart of the pipelines absent all necessary approvals. Since restarting the pipelines, Sable has been continuously violating the injunction, which the environmental groups continue fighting to enforce.