SACRAMENTO, CA (KMJ) – A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Bureau of Land Management to stop fracking in California.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra wants to block plans to open more than a million acres of public land to oil and gas drilling, including the practice of fracking.
He says it’s a direct response to the Trump Administration’s intention to end a five-year moratorium on leasing federal land in the state to oil and gas developers.
“In 2015, the Bureau of Land Management implemented thorough and science-based regulations for fracking but President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke didn’t let the law or the facts get in their way in their zeal to repeal this common sense measure,” said Becerra.
Becerra alleges a federal environmental review on fracking in California failed to fully evaluate adverse impacts on communities.
“The risks of fracking to our health and to our environment are real, they’re known, from the evaporation of toxic chemicals to low-level seismic events to the contamination of our drinking water,” said Becerra.
Beccera wants to stop expanded drilling in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura Counties.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
