-May 7,2019-
Expansion proposed in Kings County
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comments on a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzing the potential impacts of additional hydraulic fracturing associated with oil and gas development on public lands in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties. The 45-day public comment period begins on April 26 and ends on June 10. In th San Luis Obispo area meeting will behold May 22, 2019 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton, 333 Madonna Road in San Luis Obispo from 6-8 p.m.
If approved the President Trump-backed plan would open an additional one million acres in Central California for additional drilling and fracking. Environmental groups opposes the plan.“Trump’s plan would unleash a fracking frenzy that puts California’s people and wildlife in harm’s way,” said Clare Lakewood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This administration is dead set on letting oil and gas companies dig up every last drop of dirty fuel. Putting these public lands back at the mercy of the fossil fuel industry would be a huge blow to our state’s future.”
“The San Joaquin Valley has the worst air quality in the U.S. and experiences severe groundwater depletion and contamination,” said Nayamin Martinez, director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network. “These problems are only going to be exacerbated if oil extraction and fracking are allowed on public lands.
But proponents say additional drilling will supply motorists with fuel and create additional jobs.
One the biggest players in the San Joaquin oil and nat gas business is California Resources Corporation (CRC) – the largest oil and natural gas exploration and production company in California. on a gross-operated basis. The Company, formerly Occidental petroleum, controls approximately 2.3 million acres spanning the state’s four major oil and gas basins. They operate in 46 fields the San Joaquin Valley including in the Kettleman Hills area where they tell Kings Co officials and municipalities they want to expand. One their largest operations is in the huge Elk Hills Field near Bakersfield.