Conservation groups sue US government over proposed Carrizo Plain oil drilling, pipeline
Conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and other government officials in an effort to halt proposals to allow oil drilling in the Carrizo Plain National Monument.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch filed the joint lawsuit Tuesday against the BLM, U.S. Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt and Bakersfield BLM Field Manager Gabe Garcia.
In the lawsuit, the two conservation groups allege that BLM violated federal and environmental laws when, in May, it approved E&B Natural Resources Management Corp.’s application for a permit to drill, operate a new well and construct a pipeline on BLM-managed lands.
The lawsuit, which was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, also calls for a plan to properly abandon and reclaim idle well sites within the Carrizo Plain National Monument that were slated for restoration.
“It’s appalling that it takes a lawsuit to protect our spectacular national monuments, but we’ll do whatever’s necessary,” Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release Tuesday. “The Trump administration has flouted the law to appease polluting industries, decimate public lands and worsen the climate crisis.”
Oil drilling plan has controversial past
The oil well and pipeline was originally approved by the Bakersfield BLM office in 2018, but drew outrage from conservation groups.
Those groups argued at the time that the Trump administration was “trying to open more and more public lands to oil and gas drilling without proper environmental review,” according to Lisa Belenky with the Center for Biological Diversity.
The location of the proposed oil well is at the base of the Caliente Mountains along the western boundary of the monument, and on an old oil pad that was never slated for restoration, according to BLM Bakersfield Field Manager Gabe Garcia.
An E&B Natural Resources Management Corp. spokesperson told The Tribune in April 2018 that the oil drilling and pipeline will have minimal impact on the local environment.
“This oil field has been around for many decades, and utilizing this previously disturbed area minimizes land disturbance and is an environmental best practice,” E&B spokesperson Amy Roth said. “An environmental assessment was conducted on the proposed well showing no significant impacts by the Bureau of Land Management.”
In 2019, the state Bureau of Land Management overturned the Bakersfield field office’s decision to approve the oil well and pipeline due to environmental concerns.
Bakersfield BLM administrators had “not adequately and completely considered the project’s component (greenhouse gas) emissions associated with the well and the effects on climate,” the state BLM said in 2019.
The decision specifically pointed out the potential harm to California condors and other local wildlife.
But in May 2020, the Bakersfield BLM office again approved the plan for the proposed oil drilling and pipeline. That decision drew sharp criticism from California State Assembly member Jordan Cunningham, a Republican who represents the 35th District.
“Last year, I supported a bill in the State Assembly to protect our national monuments and parks from oil drilling,” Cunningham said in a news release at the time. “San Luis Obispo County and California does not want or need to open up our most precious pieces of open space for additional oil drilling.”
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the BLM allege that the federal agency failed to adequately analyze the oil well and pipeline’s climate change effects by downplaying its greenhouse gas emission and the impact those emissions have on the local environment.
Tuesday’s lawsuit alleges that the BLM’s approval of the oil drilling and pipeline backtracks its plans to restore the land.
The Carrizo Plain National Monument management plan calls for phasing out oil drilling in the monument, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
Some oil wells in the Carrizo Plain National Monument have sat dormant since the 1950s, “potentially emitting greenhouse gasses, leaving a blight on the landscape and posing a risk to underground water supplies,” the Center for Biological Diversity wrote in Tuesday’s release.
The pad that E&B has been approved to drill on hasn’t produced oil since the 1950s, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
In 2018 the field produced only 128 barrels of oil per day ― 0.03% of the state’s total oil production and one of the lowest-producing oilfields in the state, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The field is reportedly nearing the end of its useful life.
The U.S. BLM and Bakersfield BLM offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
