Environmentalists sue after feds allows new drilling permits in one of the country’s most polluted areas The San Joaquin Valley’s Kern County is home to some of the country’s most polluted cities.
The suit accuses the bureau of violating the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the Mineral Leasing Act.
The groups lambasted the bureau’s actions, saying that they had unlawfully divided the collective harm that nearly 30 more wells would do to the San Joaquin Valley, obscuring the larger harms of the approvals in “one of the most pulled areas of the country.”.
Drilling oil and gas can leak methane and other toxins that impact the valley’s air, water and soil, said Jasmine Vazin, deputy director of Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign.
Idled oil wells leaked methane near Bakersfield in 2022] The area is home to the cities of Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield.
