Kern County has released a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that would change the county’s oil and gas ordinances to allow quicker review of CEQA challenges, streamline DOGGR reviews of drilling activity, and fund regional projects to improve local air quality.
Blair Knox of the California Independent Petroleum Association, noted that Kern County operates as a by-right county for oil and gas operations, one of only four California jurisdictions that do so.
“Due to legal challenges to how CEQA is applied to permits issues by the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) it became necessary to approach CEQA compliance differently with a lead agency that would fight to defend its permitting practices. The logical choice was to handle CEQA at the local level,” said a statement by CIPA.
The statement noted that Kern County has processed about 90 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) filings in the past five years, “and has rigorously defended their work in litigation.”
It also pointed out that Kern is home to the state’s largest concentration of oil and gas production, as well as numerous wind and solar power installations.
The EIR would allow Kern to permit local oil permit applications with a ministerial process. The draft, based on two years of research funded by the 30 largest oil and gas producers in Kern County, evaluates environmental impacts and alternatives and provides mitigation measures to avoid or reduce significant impacts associated with oil and gas exploration and development activity.
The document catalogs oil and gas activity across 2.8 million acres, and recommends new measures to reduce the oil and gas industry’s environmental impact as part of an amendment to the county’s zoning ordinance.
The county will hold the workshops to discuss the draft. The first will be held July 27th, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kern County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 1115 Truxtun Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93301. The second will be held on August 10th, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Shafter Veterans Building, Room 2, 309 California Avenue, Shafter, CA 93263. The final workshop will be on August 17th, , 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Taft Veterans Building, Room 1, 218 Taylor St., Taft, CA 93268
The ordinance and EIR is expected to go to the Kern County Planning Commission in October. If approved, it would be presented to the Board of Supervisors before the end of the year.