Conservation groups sue BLM over California fracking plan

A coalition of conservation organizations filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday, challenging a plan to open more than 1 million acres of public lands and mineral estates in California’s Central Valley and Central Coast for new oil drilling and fracking permits.

The lawsuit — filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by the Center for Biological Diversity, EarthJustice, National Parks Conservation Association, The Sierra Club, Patagonia, and others — alleges that the Trump Administration failed to adequately consider how the plan could harm public health and recreation in the region, or how the plan increases the threat of earthquakes in the high-risk area.

It's not the first time the agency has faced such charges. 

“The BLM’s illegal plan to open up 1 million acres of our public lands to oil extraction is a dangerous risk to our communities, company, homes and schools,” Robert Tadlock, associate general counsel at Patagonia, said in a statement. “It would also accelerate the climate crisis, and Ventura County already ranks as the fastest-warming county in the continental U.S. We should be working harder and smarter to stop climate change, not ignoring impacts of further drilling.”

No new oil and gas leases have been sold in California since 2012, when a judge ruled the BLM had failed to properly conduct legally required assessments of the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, a controversial process more commonly known as “fracking,” that uses high-pressure injections of fluids, toxic chemicals and sand to extract natural gas from wells.

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The BLM completed the assessment last year and is now prepared to move forward with the plan, despite public outcry. 

“BLM continues to choose the oil industry over the health and safety of local communities in Central California,” said Michelle Ghafar, an attorney at EarthJustice, in a statement. “A federal court already agreed with us once that the BLM failed to fully evaluate the impacts of the oil and gas expansion it is authorizing on public land. We’re returning to court once again to ensure the agency properly analyzes the impacts of devastating fracking activities in its plan.”

Concerns over potential risks of fracking

Banned in many European countries for its potential risks to both the environment and the health of communities, several studies in recent years have found that fracking negatively impacts both air quality and water quality. In 2012, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the practice can increase emissions, and contaminates surface water and groundwater. Still, use of the technique is on the rise.

The area in California's Central Valley outlined for new development already has some of the worst air quality in the country. Three of the top five worst cities for year-round particle pollution — Fresno, Bakersfield and Visalia — ranked by the American Lung Association last year, are all located in the area. The pollution is known to cause respiratory problems, along with reproductive harm, developmental harm and premature death.

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The land also borders national parks and national forests, potentially posing risks to millions of visitors from across the country and around the world, as well as protected ecosystems and wildlife. There were 2,739 days rated “unhealthy” in Sequoia over a nine-year period, according to a report by the National Parks Conservation Association. By comparison, bustling and smoggy Los Angeles had 2,443 bad air days — 296 fewer days.

These issues, the coalition argues, have not been addressed or considered by the BLM in their plan to allow new development in the area. 

“Throughout this planning process, the Trump administration has ignored our warnings about the long-term impacts to nearby communities and national parks, in favor of short-term gains for oil and gas developers,” said Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. “This plan could allow drilling near several of our most cherished public lands, like Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, which already suffer from some of the worst air quality of any park units in the country.”

Fracking is on the rise across the country

Roughly 90% of new oil and gas wells on public lands are fracked, and domestic extraction in the U.S. is expected to grow by 44% between 2011 and 2040. 

California has tried to press pause on the practice with a moratorium on new permits. That doesn't, however, apply to land in the state owned and operated by the federal government, and Trump has been clear about his intentions to increase production.

This is the second lawsuit filed in recent months against the Trump Administration over plans to increase oil and gas extraction in California alone. In October, conservation groups sued over a similar plan to allow drilling and fracking on more than 725,000 acres of public lands and mineral estates in the Bay Area and on the state’s Central Coast.

"We have really strong policy guidance and laws that say that we're supposed to develop energy," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt when asked about the issue in December. He added that the bureau would approach the plan responsibly. "We are proud to be good conservation stewards," he said. "But the president was very clear when he ran for office on his position on energy.

Ian James of the Arizona Republic contributed to this report.

Gabrielle Canon is a California Reporter for the USA Today Network based in Sacramento. Email her at gcanon@gannett.com or say hello on Twitter.