The US Bureau of Land Management’s Bakersfield office reported it is seeking public input on potential impacts if hydraulic fracturing is allowed on federally managed land in the state. Comments must be received by Sept. 7.
The planning area includes 400,000 acres of BLM-administered public land and an additional 1.2 million acres of federal mineral estate in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura counties, it said.
This planning effort will only affect new oil and gas leases on public lands, it noted. No decisions that are made as a result will have an impact on valid existing rights or the authority of private land owners or other surface management agencies, the office said.
It intends to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement and a potential amendment for the 2014 Bakersfield Field Office Approved Resource Management Plan. Some of the issues that will be analyzed through this effort include air and atmospheric values, water quality and quantity, seismicity, special status species, mineral resources, and socioeconomics.
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