Judge Puts Hold on Fracking in CA

[babylonsister]

Judge Puts Hold on Fracking in CA

by Steven D
Tue Apr 9th, 2013 at 09:07:24 AM EST


Some good news on the environmental front, and it comes from a Federal District Court Judge in California. It seems the Obama administration (specifically the Bureau of Land Management) approved the use of hydrofracking in the development of four oil and gas leases. After that decision was challenged, a federal magistrate ruled that the government violated federal laws when it failed to address the potential environmental impacts of hydrofracturing before it sold those leases in California.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal in San Jose, California, said the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on outdated reviews, conducted before the extraction process known as fracking spurred massive development of energy deposits, when the U.S. sold four leases in 2011 for 2,700 acres of federal land in Monterey and Fresno counties.

“BLM’s dismissal of any development scenario involving fracking as ‘outside of its jurisdiction’ simply did not provide the ‘hard look’ at the issue that NEPA requires,” Grewal said in a ruling yesterday.

NEPA is the federal law, passed during the Nixon administration, that requires all federal agencies to conduct an environmental assessment before taking any action that might affect the environment.

more...

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/4/9/9724/15280

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

1. You mean the Rs haven't passed a law forbidding such studies? Well,

it won't be long now.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Great news! K/R (nt)

[notadmblnd]

3. They want to frack for oil in CA

It's already the earthquake capital of the US.

[wtmusic]

4. Richard Nixon to the rescue!

My hero!!!

[babylonsister]

5. ...