A federal judge is allowing environmental groups to add new legal claims in their case challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) extension of offshore oil and gas leases in California.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Wishtoyo Foundation filed the lawsuit in July 2024 over the government’s renewals of offshore oil and gas leases for ExxonMobil’s Santa Ynez Unit in the Santa Barbara Channel.
The groups are adding new claims challenging the approval of two permits, issued in September 2024. The groups stated that the government issued the permits within four days of receiving the applications and that it relied on an outdated environmental analysis. The new claims stated that the government violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it issued the permits without an updated environmental review.
The lawsuit seeks to void the most recent lease extensions and prevent BSEE from issuing any future lease extensions “unless and until the BSEE complies with the law.”