Bureau of Land Management opens public California land for oil and gas leasing
Fracking and drilling could be coming back to California. Environmental advocates say it could be devastating to wildlife and communities.
"These are some of the most iconic and beautiful places in California that could see new drilling," Center for Biological Diversity Attorney Hollin Kretzmann said. "Drilling has a wide range of effects. It includes contaminating our water that we drink, contaminating the air that we breathe, and it has all kinds of effects on wildlife and the habitat that they need to survive."
This comes after the Bureau of Land Management announced its approved plan to open nearly a million acres of public land to be leased to oil and gas.
This includes land in San Joaquin, Fresno, Merced, Kern and Kings counties.
The BLM says the project "aligns with the Secretary's Order 3418, which supports President Trump's call for 'Unleashing American Energy,' aimed at increasing energy exploration and production on federal lands in an affordable and reliable manner."
Advocates say otherwise.
"BLM is signaling that it's going to stampede all over California's state protections and try to ignore the laws that we have in place to protect people from the worst of the oil and gas pollution," Kretzmann explained.
Bakersfield experienced what some call a "Thermal Revolution" in oil extraction back in the 1970s.
Since then, it's come with a lot of pushback, including the recent ban on fracking in California back in 2024.
Oil experts CBS News Sacramento spoke with believe that in today's economy, these projects are not realistic and major companies won't see it as lucrative.
They also said it would take a long time, nearly 5-10 years from leasing to actively drilling. Plus, many companies are already looking elsewhere in other parts of the country.
Advocates say they are ready to put up a fight.
"We have sued them in the past and we're taking a look at all our options, including legal action against the BLM," Kretzmann said.
BLM shared a statement with CBS News Sacramento, saying, "The BLM's Record of Decision signed last week addresses a settlement agreement that required the BLM to analyze the environmental effects of oil and gas leasing and development prior to resuming leasing in the area. These lands have been open for leasing for many decades and this decision validates decisions made in the past. Through our NEPA process, we received comments from the public. These comments were addressed in the final document. We anticipate interest in established oil and gas fields where there is higher potential for development."
