Trump administration lifts 5-year moratorium on fracking public land in California

WASHINGTON, Dec 13:The Trump administration greenlighted fracking on publicly owned land in the state of California with a decision by the US Bureau of Land Management to be published in the US Federal Register, the BLM said in a notice.
“Because there are no changes to the 2014 RMP [Resource Management Plan] resulting from supplementation of its underlying EIS [Environmental Impact Statement], with signature of this ROD [Record of Decision] , that part of the 2014 ROD that was set aside on remand, is now in effect,” the notice said on Thursday.
A 2014 court ruling set aside the original Bureau of Land Management decision to approve fracking in California by ordering a supplemental assessment of possible environmental damage.
The notice on Thursday said the Bureau of Land Management had complied with the court order by completing a new environmental impact analysis that confirmed the 2014 assessment challenged by the court ruling.
However, the latest notice is at odds with a November announcement by California Governor Gavin Newsom of a moratorium on new high pressure injection wells and a scientific review of all permits to frack in the state, according to a press release issued by the Sierra Club.
Environmental groups charge that fracking poisons ground water supplies by injecting pressurized steam, water and chemicals into oil and gas wells to increase yields.
In addition, fracking opponents say the process releases toxic air contaminants, such as benzene and formaldehyde that cause cancer.
Environmentalists have launched campaigns throughout the United States to ban the practice.
While the campaigns have successfully banned fracking in some areas, the practice has expanded during the Trump administration in oil and gas producing regions in the eastern United States in states such as Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Dakota.
As a result, the United States has become the world’s leading oil producer, surpassing Saudi Arabia, as well as a top producer of natural gas, putting the Trump administration at odds with environmentalists’ efforts to phase out fossil fuels in favor of renewable power sources such as wind and solar.
The BLM decision does not preclude the possibility that the dispute pitting the Trump administration against California and environmental groups will again wind up bogged down in court challenges.
(agencies)

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