Panetta aims to block federal plan for Central Coast oil drilling

MONTEREY — Rep. Jimmy Panetta is hoping to pump the brakes on a federal plan opening up more than 720,000 acres of Central Coast land to new oil and gas drilling.

Legislation introduced Wednesday by Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, would block the Bureau of Land Management from leasing new oil and gas wells on California's Central Coast until the agency completes an additional review that accounts for a wider range of environmental impacts.

Called the California Central Coast Conservation Act, the bill would mandate additional scrutiny into how new drilling would impact air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, groundwater, surface water, seismicity, low-income communities, communities of color and indigenous communities.

If significant impacts were found, the legislation would require the federal agency to redo a comprehensive environmental review.

"As a legislator, I make decisions based on evidence. I expect federal agencies to do the same. Until the BLM completes a detailed analysis of the harmful impacts new oil and gas drilling will have on our pristine environment, the agency should not proceed," Panetta said in a prepared release. "The Administration's decision threatens not just the environment, but also the economy and our communities on the Central Coast."

The legislation comes in the wake of an October decision by the BLM, ending what was effectively a 5-year moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on California land managed by the federal agency.

In 2013, a federal judge found the BLM illegally leased oil and gas rights in Monterey and Fresno counties by failing to properly vet the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

The ruling imposed a moratorium on new oil and gas leases in California until the BLM conducted a full review of fracking's environmental impacts.

In line with a 2017 edict from President Donald Trump — ordering federal agencies to work to minimize regulation and boost domestic energy production — the BLM released a plan meeting the judge's requirements in May and set out to reopen Central Coast land for leasing.