"California officials on Monday announced a settlement reversing a Trump-era decision opening central California to new oil and gas drilling on public lands.

The settlement resolves a lawsuit filed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and a trio of state agencies against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2020. Newsom and Bonta joined the state Air Resources Board Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Water Resources in a challenge to BLM plans to allow drilling on more than 1 million acres of public lands.

The officials alleged the plan would open up the lands without a proper environmental review or an analysis of its impact on local residents."

Zack Budryk reports for The Hill August 1, 2022. [2]