BLM Plan to Open 800,000 Acres of Federal Land in California to Oil and Gas Leasing

The BLM plan is estimated to result in up to 37 new oil and gas wells drilling on new land leases over the next 20 years. The BLM estimates that the oil and gas industry on private and public lands directly supports approximately 3,000 jobs and $623 million dollars in tax revenue within Fresno, Monterey and San Benito counties.

This was not good news for everyone.

“Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, called the decision on the Central California leasing proposal ‘reckless,’” the Sacramento Bee reports. “Turning over these spectacular wild places to dirty drilling and fracking will sicken Californians, harm endangered species and fuel climate chaos. We’ll fight tooth and nail to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Lakewood said in a statement.

For decades, the Center for Biological Diversity has exploited and abused the language of the Endangered Species Act to halt large scale projects. Funded by some of the largest left-wing mega-foundations in the US, including the Tides Foundation, Rockefeller Family Fund, and Pew Charitable Trusts, Center for Biological Diversity searches for endangered species, petitions for listing under the Endangered Species Act, then demand their “critical habitat” be shown as lines on a map of their making, LeftExposed.org reported.

“California won’t stand idly by while the Trump Administration pushes forward a project that endangers our communities and natural resources,” said Attorney General Xavier Becerra in June. “While President Trump might value a quick buck over the health and safety of the American people, that’s not how we do things in California. This unlawful half-baked proposal would hurt millions of Californians – we will fight to make sure it doesn’t move forward.”

California lawmakers are attempting their own preemptive strike on more oil and gas development with Assembly Bill 342 by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance). “Specifically designed to thwart plans by the Trump administration to increase oil and gas production on federal land, AB 342 will make it illegal for pipelines to cross over state land,” California Globe reported. “As most federally protected areas, such as National Parks and Wilderness Areas, are adjacent to state-owned land, drilling could not occur in most areas. Language in the bill also specifically mentions that no leasing authority can allow pipelines on any public land, even in tidelands and submerged lands.”

“This would join current California law forbidding pipeline use and drilling on state land and also likely halt federal overriding like the Grand Staircase National Monument in Utah being opened for mining over objections from the state of Utah earlier this year.”

In July, “Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered the firing of California’s top oil regulator after environmental activists reported a recent spike in state fracking permits and allegations that senior officials within the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources own stock in petroleum companies they oversee,” Bakersfield.com reported. Critics of oil and gas industry (DOGGR) Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources object to “the agency’s longstanding practice of hiring from the ranks of California oil producers.”

‘These same critics are silent on the longstanding practice of the Public Utilities Commission hiring from the ranks of the state’s energy producers. “DOGGR defended the practice as the only way to meet increased staffing requirements while also putting in place employees with a working knowledge of technical oilfield matters.

“Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot and Newsom’s chief of staff, Ann O’Leary, said the governor wanted State Oil and Gas Supervisor Ken Harris dismissed and an acting supervisor appointed. Remember, Wade Crowfoot was involved in California Gov. Brown’s climate compact with the Governors of Oregon and Washington and the British Columbia Premier, when they signed the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy, “to align climate change policies and promote clean energy.”

The Pacific Coast Collaborative was an illegal compact which linked with the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange (WCX), formed to promote “the type of new thinking necessary to solve the West Coast’s infrastructure crisis.” And the WCX was linked to the Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Global Initiative.