Trump plan to allow new fracking on California coast, Central Valley moves forward

Photo: Hydraulic fracturing is currently used on between 10 to 20 percent of all oil and gas wells on public lands in Central California managed by the Bureau of Land Management Bakersfield Field Office. COURTESY OF BLM, BAKERSFIELD FIELD OFFICE.

The Trump administration moved forward Thursday with its plan to open up federal land in California’s Central Valley and Central Coast to more oil and gas drilling, including fracking.

The Bureau of Land Management Central Coast Office released new documents on its proposal for oil and gas leasing and development on the public land it administers. The field office’s boundaries stretch across 11 California counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that opposes the plan, estimates that the proposal could open up roughly 725,000 acres of federally managed land and subsurface mineral estate to oil and gas leasing.

“From Monterey to the Bay Area, the president wants to let oil companies drill and spill their way across our beloved public lands and wildlife habitat,” Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “As we fight climate chaos, there’s no justification for any new drilling and fracking, let alone this outrageous assault on our pristine wild places.”

The administration insists it is abiding by the the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and […]

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Trump plan to allow new fracking on California coast, Central Valley moves forward
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Trump plan to allow new fracking on California coast, Central Valley moves forward
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Trump administration moves ahead with its plan to open federal land in California's Central Valley and Central Coast to more oil and gas drilling, fracking.
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The Sacramento Bee
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