The Trump administration is considering the creation of a strategic petroleum reserve in California, Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed Friday, a move that could expand oil infrastructure in the state and challenge Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Wright told Politico the administration is in “active dialogue” about establishing a reserve on the West Coast. Speaking after touring Sable Offshore Corp.’s facilities in Santa Barbara County, Wright said, “California is a military launch pad for the Pacific Ocean, a huge amount of facilities here.”

He added, “What is it that we can do to make California and our national defense more secure? It just stands out as this very unfortunate expensive energy isolated island.”

The discussions follow a June 2 proposal from Sable Offshore Corp. for a West Coast Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

According to documents obtained by the outlet, the company proposed the project “in response to the inquiries made by the Trump administration and in the furtherance of Sable’s ongoing discussions with the Department of War for the supply of oil and gas to California.”

The document states that an initial facility could store 370,000 barrels of oil, with a second phase potentially expanding capacity to 30 million barrels.

It adds: “The storage facilities and the connected and adjacent pipelines would make any oil stored in the facility available to serve the military installations in central, northern, and southern California, the remaining refineries in California’s major population centers, and further available for maritime transport via the port facilities in both the San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, for onward transport to the military installations in the Asia Pacific region.”

Sable CEO Jim Flores praised Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum during a Friday press conference, citing their “attention to California and caring about the state of California from a refining standpoint, inventory standpoint, strategic petroleum reserve, things like that.”

Not everyone sees a California reserve as strategically important. Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former George W. Bush administration energy adviser, noted California’s shrinking refining capacity and said, “With California shutting down refining, not that big of a deal.”