"California Central Coast, Bay Area to Open for Drilling"

"A more than five-year moratorium on leasing land in California for oil and gas development will be coming to an end with a May 9 Interior Department plan to open up about 725,000 acres across the state’s Central Coast and the Bay Area for drilling.

The decision comes just two weeks after the Trump administration released its plan to reopen more than 1 million acres of public land and federal mineral estate in eight counties in Central California to fracking.

The Bureau of Land Management’s preferred alternative in the proposed resource management plan and final environmental impact statement, which will be published in the Federal Register May 10, will allow for leasing with controlled surface stipulations on about 683,000 acres of mineral estate, and on another 42,400 acres of minerals that have to be accessed with horizontal drilling since equipment isn’t allowed on the surface directly above."

Tripp Baltz reports for Bloomberg Environment May 9, 2019.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 05/10/2019