Trump administration to lease 1 Million acres of California public land for oil and gas

CALIFORNIA – The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on January 13 released plans to allow oil and gas drilling on one million acres of public land in California.

The Bakersfield Field Office proposes leasing 416,515 acres of surface land and 1.2 million acres of subsurface mineral estate across eight California counties.

A separate Central Coast Field Office proposal would lease 284 acres of surface land and 9,000 acres of subsurface mineral estate.

The proposals would open oil and gas leasing near Pinnacles National Park, Mount Diablo State Park, Henry W. Coe State Park, and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve.

The proposal also targets new hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in Lost Hills, Buena Vista, Bakersfield, and Sespe.

Plans previously faced legal challenges

The plans were first unveiled during the Trump administration in 2019 and were later halted, according to the Center for Biological Diversity and allied groups, following legal challenges.

Settlement agreements suspended new oil and gas leasing in these areas until the BLM completed updated environmental analyses, including the impacts of fracking.

The Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement released Monday updates the previous review, but groups say the documents remain inadequate.

Center for Biological Diversity attorney Victoria Bogdan Tejeda says California’s public lands are a refuge for human wonder and wildlife, not places for Trump’s oil and gas cronies to exploit and pollute.

“We won’t let this administration get away with permanently destroying our public lands,” Tejeda said.

Government concludes that emissions are minor

The center says the areas targeted in the plans are home to threatened and endangered animals and plants, including San Joaquin kit foxes, giant kangaroo rats, burrowing owls, California condors, and the California jewelflower.

Proposed drilling and fracking areas are also near communities already burdened by legacy pollution, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

However, government officials from the Bakersfield Field Office’s Oil and Gas Leasing and Development program concluded that emissions from drilling are minor.

They added that these emissions are not expected to significantly affect regional air quality or public health.