- United States
- Ohio
- Letter
Strip the Sable Offshore provision from the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act before the Senate votes on it. The amendment from Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas cleared the House by a single vote, 215 to 214, and it would hand the Secretary of Defense eminent domain power to take permanent easements along the Santa Ynez Pipeline System, including land owned by the State of California.
This is not a defense program. It is one private oil company using the federal government to seize state parkland on the Gaviota Coast so it can restart the pipeline that ruptured in 2015 and spilled more than 450,000 gallons of crude near Refugio State Beach. Sable now faces 21 criminal charges from Santa Barbara County prosecutors, five of them felonies, over its work on that same line.
I do not want a corporate favor dressed up as a national security necessity. If the Pentagon can condemn a state park for a drilling company, no public land in any state is safe from the next company with a lobbyist. Vote to remove this provision, and oppose any defense bill that still carries it.