California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed comments opposing a proposed Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale covering nearly 36,000 acres in Central California, arguing the agency's environmental review inadequately assessed public health and environmental impacts.
The proposed sale includes 44 parcels — 43 in the Bakersfield Planning Area and one in the Central Coast Planning area — covering land in Kern, Kings, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo Counties. BLM announced plans for the sale in July 2026, with the lease sale scheduled for December 2026.
Approximately 16 of the parcels fall within California's 3,200-foot public health and safety setback established under Senate Bill 1137 to protect communities from drilling near homes, schools, and other sensitive locations. The proposed lease sale would particularly burden communities that already experience severe air pollution, Bonta argued.
The Draft Environmental Assessment relied on prior planning documents that would collectively open around 2 million acres across 20 counties to oil and gas operations. Bonta asserted that the assessment fails to consider recent science about harms from oil and gas development, particularly impacts on water quality and air pollution, as well as outsized public health effects on low-income communities and communities of color near drilling operations.
Bonta also noted that the assessment assumes hydraulic fracturing will occur despite the technique being phased out in California, and it fails to consider state law that limits drilling near homes and schools and state efforts to combat climate change.
"Once again, the Trump Administration is pushing to expand oil and gas development into additional areas of California, continuing a pattern that favors fossil fuel interests at the expense of public health and the environment," Bonta said. "California's land belongs to the people, not to special interest groups seeking to profit from them."