Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration is backing a draft state bill that would shield Kern County’s oil and gas permitting system from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits for 10 years. The measure would allow Kern—the source of about three-quarters of California’s oil—to issue drilling permits without fear of new CEQA litigation until January 2036. Unlike operators in other counties, Kern producers would also avoid the proposed “plug-two-to-drill-one” rule, which would have required plugging two old wells for every new well drilled.

Read full article here: https://www.bakersfield.com/news/proposed-bill-would-protect-kerns-oil-permitting-system-from-ceqa-lawsuits/article_65870ce0-151a-46e7-8587-54e311cbbc0c.html