US News-
The Trump administration on Friday announced it would open up over 720,000 acres of federal land in California for oil and gas development, ending a five-year moratorium on leases in the state.
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management approved a resource management plan for the oil-rich Central California coastal region, which would issue 14 previously litigated leases in Monterey and San Benito counties, which were suspended amid a legal challenge by two conservation groups six years ago, and open up new acres for leasing.
The BLM has not held a lease sale in California since 2013, when a judge ruled that the agency illegally issued leases without analyzing the environmental impact of drilling called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
