The Bureau of Land Management is currently analyzing a plan to open up nearly 850,000 acres of federal public land and mineral estate across the region to new oil and gas leasing. The Bakersfield Field Office Resource Management Plan spans an area stretching from Los Angeles County in the south to San Luis Obispo County (and a small portion of Monterey County) in the north along the coast, as well as all the way to the Sierra Nevada in the east.
A group of 54 organizations, led by ForestWatch, submitted a joint letter highlighting significant public health and ecological concerns with the plan. The letter identifies key areas that the coalition urges the Bureau of Land Management to exclude from new oil and gas leasing.
The agency is now considering public comments it received during the initial 30-day comment period. A draft environmental impact statement may be released as soon as September due to the project’s review being expedited by the Trump administration.
Read more about the plan here.
Header photo by Bryant Baker depicts the Carrizo Plains Ecological Reserve, between the Carrizo Plain National Monument and Los Padres National Forest. This area is an example of “split estate” where the surface owner (in this case, the State of California) is not the same entity as the mineral estate owner (the Bureau of Land Management.