Invoking a wartime law used to speed production of medical supplies during the COVID pandemic, the Trump Administration ordered the restart of an oil pipeline in California last week.

On March 14, oil began flowing through the Las Flores Pipeline for the first time since a massive spill in 2015 that coated wildlife in oil and forced the shutdown of multiple beaches along the Gaviota Coast.

The Department of Energy ordered the pipeline restarted under the Defense Production Act, which gives the president authority to expand industrial production in the name of national defense. The department also invoked Trump’s order declaring an energy emergency, even though U.S. oil and natural gas production are at record highs.

The order comes amid rising U.S. fuel prices because of the Iran war, though pipeline owner Sable Offshore, a Texas company, has been trying to restart the pipeline for more than a year. The pipeline delivers oil from platforms off the coast of Santa Barbara to Kern County, in California's Central Valley.

California officials and Santa Barbara residents had strongly opposed restarting the pipeline, with the state’s attorney general suing the Trump Administration earlier this year over a proposal to transfer pipeline safety jurisdiction to the federal government. The state on Monday filed an emergency motion in federal court, attempting to stop Sable from operating the pipeline, according to the New York Times.

About 50,000 barrels per day began flowing through the pipeline last week, with Sable planning to increase production over the coming months.