LOS ANGELES (AP) – California’s petroleum-rich Kern County has approved a plan that could permit tens of thousands of oil and gas wells over the next 15 years.
The ordinance approved Monday had to be rewritten after environmental groups sued and a state appeals court found the county’s permit system could threaten air and water quality.
The proposal creates a blanket environmental impact report for drilling as many as 2,700 wells a year.
Environmentalists say the revised plan does little to resolve concerns that led the appeals court to block the plan last year.
Oil producers supported the revisions.
