From the Associated Press via KSBY:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Federal land managers are postponing all oil and gas lease auctions in California until October, citing budget problems and low staffing, and the toll of environmental litigation.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday it would put off an auction planned for later this month to sell leases to drill almost 1,300 acres of prime public lands near the Monterey Shale, home to one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the nation.
A federal judge ruled last month that BLM had violated a key environmental law when the agency auctioned the drilling rights for other parcels near the Salinas River Valley before performing a sweeping review of the impacts on water, wildlife and air quality.
BLM spokesman David Christy says the agency is concentrating its resources on enforcement on existing leases.
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Also, sent to me by my step-dad and reader of my blog:
A report issued by National Parks with five studies about hydronic fracking in or near National Parks and the impact on wildlife and the environment. This report can be found here
It has been submitted by the National Parks Conservation Association regarding potential impacts in parks in Tennessee and Kentucky; New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; Wyoming; Montana; and North Dakota.
Bill Nye also informed me recently that we should begin the discussion on whether or not fracking in the Salinas Valley will have any impact on the Aquifer that supplies Big Sur with her water and suggests it be added to the BSMAAC agenda as a prelude to such a discussion. If not the May meeting, then perhaps the next one.
