Free Republic

After being offline for more than a decade, oil is officially flowing again through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System off the coast of Southern California. The network of pipelines, which pass through Santa Barbara County before ending at Pentland Station in Kern County, restarted Monday following an executive order from President Donald Trump on Friday, which has been seized on by Gavin Newsom. “This is an attempt to illegally restart a pipeline whose operators are facing criminal charges and prohibited by multiple court orders from restarting,” Newsom said in a statement when Trump first announced plans for Sable to resume...

As we reported Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order authorizing the Energy Department to invoke the Defense Production Act, a 1950s Cold War-era law, to force the restart of a dormant offshore oil operation along the California coast.Oil prices have been volatile as the Iran conflict continues, and the Islamic Republic threatens the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the Middle Eastern waterway through which over 20 percent of the world's oil flows. According to the Santa Barbara News-Press, that oil could start flowing immediately:A federal order Friday directed Sable Offshore Corporation to restart its pipelines to transport oil from...