California has reached a settlement with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to shut down new oil and gas drilling on more than 1 million acres of public land in Central California.
The settlement, announced Aug. 1 by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, requires the BLM to withdraw the land from new drilling, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), until the federal land agency conducts more environmental impact studies.
“Fracking is dangerous for our communities, damaging to our environment, and out of step with California’s climate goals,” Bonta said in a release.
The state filed a lawsuit in January 2020 claiming BLM’s initial environmental review of the project failed to fully evaluate the “significant and adverse impacts” on the environment in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura counties, according to the release….