The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a draft environmental impact statement that concludes that new drilling in central and coastal California would not significantly harm public health or the environment. The environmental review is part of the Trump administration’s plans to open 1.2 million acres of federal mineral lands in California to oil and gas drilling.
The Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) from the Bakersfield Field Office concluded that emissions from oil and gas development are “minor and are not expected to significantly affect regional air quality or public health.” The statement states that drilling will have minimal impacts on the area’s biological resources, soil, and water.
In June 2025, the BLM proposed the expanded oil and gas leasing and development and released a notice of intent to prepare a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The proposed area would include federal land in eastern Fresno, western Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura counties.
The proposed development expansion is part of President Donald Trump’s policy to “encourage energy production and exploration on federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf.”
The Bakersfield planning area encompasses approximately 400,000 acres of public land and 1.2 million acres of federal mineral estate across eight counties: Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura. The office estimates that the Planning Area could see up to 400 new wells per year.
The office prepared the 2025 DSEIS in response to litigation challenging the adequacy of the 2019 Hydraulic Fracturing Final Supplemental EIS (FSEIS) and the 2020 Lease Sale Environmental Assessment (EA). Environmental groups argued that BLM did not adequately consider environmental harms.
In 2022, the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Eastern Districts of California approved stipulated settlement agreements. These agreements require BLM to prepare a new supplemental EIS and reconsider the 2014 Resource Management Plan’s (RMP) fluid minerals decisions, as well as to supplement the 2020 Lease Sale EA.