Kern County may finally be able to move forward with resuming oil and gas permitting.
The deadline for groups to sue the county from issuing new permits passed on Monday with no new lawsuits filed.
The backstory: Last month the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a new zoning ordinance to allow new drilling permits to be issued, which would transfer the permitting authority from state to local officials.
- Environmental groups, which have saddled local permitting with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuits in the past, had the option over the last few months to challenge the new rules in court and keep permitting from restarting.
The big picture: Passing Monday’s deadline without any new lawsuits suggest that local that local petroleum producers might be poised to resume drilling activities within the coming year, potentially ending a prolonged period of regulatory delays.
- However, the situation remains complex. A spokeswoman for Earthjustice, an environmental legal advocacy group, told the Bakersfield Californian that the group filed objections in an already active lawsuit three weeks ago, which could end up delaying oil permitting.
The other side: Kern County permitting director Lorelei Oviatt told the Californian that Earthjustice’s objections in court means no new lawsuits are on the way, meaning the county should be able to bring an end to the lawsuit within the next year and a half, if not sooner.
- Oviatt told the paper that she plans to return to court to argue that the county’s new rules meet CEQA’s requirements.
- Yet Earthjustice told the paper that the objections the group filed earlier in July are effectively a new lawsuit, leaving Kern County’s new rule up in the air until a judge can even determine if the objections are actually a new lawsuit.
