The Carrizo Plain National Monument in California’s Kern County. (Photo via Antandrus / Wikipedia)
(CN) The Trump administration opened bidding for gas and oil drilling leases on California public land Thursday, putting 4,000 acres of resources up for sale in the first auction of its kind in eight years.
President Donald Trump has long planned to open the Golden State’s public lands and federal mineral estates to oil drilling and fracking operations, and his administration hatched designs for over 1.7 million acres of such territory in the Central Valley.
This past August, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management signaled an impending sale when it announced it would open bidding on federal lands in Kern County.
For Immediate Release, December 10, 2020
Contact:
Cesar Aguirre, Central California Environmental Justice Network, (661) 979-2721, cesar.aguirre@ccejn.org
Gabby Brown, Sierra Club, (914) 261-4626 gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Rebecca August, Los Padres ForestWatch, (805) 770-8692, rebecca@lpfw.org
Trump Administration Auctions Off California Public Lands for Oil, Gas
First Sale in Eight Years Comes Ahead of Biden’s Promised Leasing Ban
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. The Trump administration opened bidding today in the first auction of California federal public lands to oil companies in eight years. Despite community opposition and ongoing legal disputes, the Bureau of Land Management put over 4,000 acres in Kern County up for sale for oil drilling and fracking.