Credit: BLM

October 17, 2020  - Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it will sell leases to over 4,100 acres of federal land in California’s Kern County for new oil and gas drilling, despite opposition from environmentalists and multiple California lawmakers.

The seven parcels for sale are either inside or adjacent to existing oil fields in Kern County and are estimated to yield up to 10 new wells.  

The BLM first proposed selling 1.2 million acres of leases in April 2019 after a lengthy court battle.  That was followed by a final decision in December 2019 and a comment period in August.  

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued over the plan in January, and  Senator Dianne Feinstein along with Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) wrote to the agency last month in opposition to the sale.
Source: Rural County Representatives of California