SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KERO) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a deal Monday with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management prohibiting new oil and gas leasing on public lands in the Central Valley.
The leasing prohibition is while the Bureau conducts supplemental environmental review and affects Kern, Fresno, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura counties.
The agreement is still subject to court approval.
The California Air Resources Board, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the California Department of Water Resources were also part of the agreement.
In January 2020, California agencies filed a lawsuit challenging a Trump-era plan to open up more than one million acres of public lands in Central California to oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
Specifically, the Bureau agrees to not hold any lease sales until it finalizes a supplemental environmental impact statement that supersedes its 2019 review.
The Full Settlement Can Be Read Below:
Federal moratorium deal reached on new oil, gas drilling for Central Valley
