Bakersfield, CA — Yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released two draft supplemental environmental impact statements for oil and gas leasing and development on California’s public lands as part of Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” scheme to increase drilling, paving the way for expanded oil and gas drilling across more than 1 million acres of public lands and mineral rights across the state.
Oil production on state and private lands in the state has been in decline since 1985 for a variety of reasons, including oil wells producing less crude over time and the rising costs and climate impacts of reaching remaining oil supplies.
New federal oil and gas leasing in the Central Coast and Central California regions has been suspended for the past decade due to successful litigation brought by environmental justice, conservation, and business groups against BLM. The release of the two supplemental environmental impact statements today is the result of settlements reached by these groups in the most recent lawsuits in 2022. BLM is now proposing to restart new oil and gas leasing in these regions, covering public lands across Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Ventura, Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz, Merced, and San Joaquin counties.
The areas slated by Trump for drilling and fracking are near spectacular public lands, including state parks, national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and the Carrizo Plain National Monument. Oil companies could target land around popular sites like Pinnacles National Park, Mount Diablo State Park, Henry W. Coe State Park and Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve.
California is already facing deadly air pollution, catastrophic wildfires, and climate chaos made worse by fossil fuel expansion. Opening new drilling sites will only deepen this crisis, especially for frontline and Indigenous communities who already bear the brunt of environmental injustice.
We must honor Indigenous sovereignty and leadership in shaping California’s energy future. A true Just Transition—an Indigenous Just Transition—means protecting the lands and waters that sustain life, rejecting extraction, and investing in clean energy and care for our communities.
Advocates with the Last Chance Alliance and allies are condemning this as an outright attack by Trump on California’s environmental justice values and progress moving beyond fossil fuels. They are urging concerned Californians to push back against this reckless federal approach during two separate 45-day public comment periods being held by BLM from January 16 to March 6, 2026.
“The recent oil spills and gas leaks of hundreds and thousands of barrels of toxic, polluting crude oil and other chemicals into homes in Newport Beach, creeks in Santa Paula, and near Salinas River in Monterey County are acute evidence of the threat oil and gas drilling has always posed in California,” said Haley Ehlers, Executive Director at Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG). “Trump’s plan to open up even more public lands and rural communities to attacks from his fossil fuel industry allies is unacceptable and makes it even more critical for local and state leaders to step up and protect Californians.”
“California’s public lands are a refuge for human wonder and beautiful wildlife, not places for Trump’s oil and gas cronies to exploit and pollute,” said Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “We won’t let this administration get away with permanently destroying our public lands. We’ll fight his perverse effort to worsen climate change and expose California’s people and wildlife to more toxic pollution from dirty drilling and fracking.”
“Fossil fuel extraction on California’s public lands threatens the places that nurture our collective well-being — where our families gather, our cultures flourish, and our natural world thrives,” said Jazzari Taylor, Policy Advocate at Latino Outdoors. “These are the places where we recreate, heal, and deepen our connection to one another and the Earth. When public lands are damaged or polluted, our communities lose the opportunity to enjoy the healthy and thriving experience and benefits they deserve. Latino Outdoors believes our public lands must remain spaces of renewal and opportunity for learning — not sacrifice zones for industry. We are committed to ensuring an outdoors for all, today and for future generations. Protecting our public lands is protecting our people — and those who call these places home.”
“The Bureau of Land Management’s efforts to reopen oil and gas leasing on California’s public lands raise significant concerns,” said Carla Mena, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at Los Padres Forest Watch. “Many of these lands—particularly along the Central Coast—are located near schools, parks, and drinking water sources, and are already experiencing ongoing drought, heightened wildfire risk, and habitat loss. At a time when communities are demanding cleaner air, safer water, and real climate solutions, BLM is doubling down on policies that deepen environmental injustice and lock us into a dangerous fossil fuel future. Californians deserve better.”
“Because California’s health community is dedicated to protecting our patients’ health and our communities, we are completely opposed to new oil or gas drilling on our public lands,” said Ashley McClure, MD, co-founder and ED of Climate Health Now. “Our communities suffer health harms — more asthma, more heart attacks, strokes and ADHD — from the toxic pollution that oil and gas drilling produces. Our public lands should be used in ways that protect and promote public health— not threaten it. Let’s all call on Joseph Stout, the California State Director for BLM, to stop this process from moving forward.”
“The Trump Administration’s push to expand oil drilling across California’s public lands is a highly vindictive move that puts our air, land and clean energy goals at risk – not to mention the health and safety of our communities,” said Food & Water Watch California Director Nicole Ghio. “Trump is giving away California lands to corporate polluters over the objections of Californians who want safe water, breathable air, and a livable climate. Our beautiful, unique public lands are ours – and our children’s – legacy and it’s one that needs to be preserved, not exploited.”
“The Trump administration is obsessed with repaying his Big Oil billionaire funders, so he’s committed to lock America into the dirty, expensive and dangerous fuels of the past. He is selling out part of what makes America great, our beautiful public lands, which are beloved across the political spectrum. With these actions he is excluding our country from the clean energy revolution, relinquishing our leadership on a global stage and forgoing hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs for the American people,” said Ilonka Zlatar, Organizer with Oil and Gas Action Network.
“Right now, our public lands are under serious threat from Presidential Executive Orders—even though the property clause gives Congress the authority under the Constitution to protect and manage our public lands. These lands represent about 28 percent of the total land area in the country — where every American is an equal land owner by birthright. Our public lands are our democratic promise in action,” said Ramona Cornell du Houx, Elected Officials to Protect America Communications Director. “To ramp up oil and gas drilling across more than 1 million acres of public lands in California is unconstitutional and unnecessary when the fossil fuel giants already have leases across the country they do not use. The biggest glaring reason is that fossil fuels are the driver behind the climate crisis and hurt the health of innocents. In 2018 alone, 34,000 people in California died from fossil fuel air pollution prematurely.”
“The fossil fuel industry poured millions into Trump’s campaign, and now he wants to sacrifice Californians’ health and safety to repay his Big Oil donors. Protecting Californians from Trump’s agenda means protecting them from ‘drill, baby, drill’ and this attempt to expand oil drilling on California’s public lands. Governor Newsom and other state leaders must stand up to stop all expansion of fossil fuel extraction across California,” said Allie Rosenbluth, U.S. Campaign Manager, Oil Change International
“While Donald Trump doesn’t listen to science, the science behind climate change is real. In Los Angeles one year ago we witnessed veteran firefighters saying they’d never experienced the hurricane-force winds that were driving fires in the Pacific Palisades, Topanga Canyon, Altadena and Malibu. They’d never seen winds whip fast in one direction, then unexpectedly whip around to another direction. They didn’t know where to go or how to stop these wild and wicked winds and fires that ultimately destroyed thousands of homes and businesses while also resulting in too many deaths and displacements. We know what’s causing these climate change impacts: fossil oil and fossil gas. There are renewable alternatives, and in California we’re ready to transition away from oil & gas – no more drilling!” said Marcia Hanscom, Community Organizer, Defend Ballona Wetlands.
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LCA LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge that Bakersfield is the traditional home of the Kitanemuk people of the Tejon Tribe. Part of our commitment to decolonizing ourselves, our language, and our organizations is a commitment to learning and better understanding the history of Indigenous Peoples of so-called California, including the history of contact, colonization and the extraction of resources from Indigenous lands which has been part of the continuation of modern colonization.
