By SAM MORGEN @bakersfield.com
The Kern County Board of Supervisors has authorized a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s recent denial of hydraulic fracturing permits.
A 4-1 vote in closed session on Tuesday morning gives the green light to county attorneys to draft the lawsuit against Newsom, who supervisors say has violated the state constitution in his attempt to institute an administrative ban on fracking.
“The decisions (Newsom) has made to unilaterally come after the oil and gas industry in violation of standing rules and standing law, that’s been established by the state Legislature, has been a gross overreach of his power,” Board Chairman Phillip Peters said after supervisors announced their intent to sue the state on Tuesday. “He’s supposed to be executing the laws, not decreeing them. So we’re going to try and push back on that.”
In early July the state oil and gas supervisor, Uduak-Joe Ntuk, head of the California Geologic Energy Management division, rejected 21 fracking permit applications filed by Bakersfield-based Aera Energy LLC. For what appeared to be the first time ever, the applications were denied not for technical reasons but based on Ntuk’s discretionary authority.
Then, on Monday, Ntuk denied 14 more permit applications, also filed by Aera for fracking wells in western Kern County. Again he cited his discretionary authority, not technical standards, to protect health, safety, and the environment. The denial letters cited risks relating to greenhouse gases, a clear reference to concerns about climate change.
Prior to the denials, Newsom had called on the state Legislature to pass a bill that would ban new fracking permits by 2024. But legislators drafted a bill that would ban not only fracking but other common oilfield techniques. It died in committee after labor unions and other groups voiced disapproval.
Newsom then moved to bypass the Legislature by imposing an administrative fracking ban through the state regulatory process. The ban has yet to be officially approved by CalGEM, but the agency has nevertheless moved forward with denying fracking permits at its own discretion.
“Gov. Newsom is operating like a dictator,” Supervisor Zack Scrivner said. “In this country, you have the separation of powers — executive, legislative, judicial — the legislative branch in the state of California is the one who controls the policy in regards to these permits. But Newsom, even though the Legislature denied his request to pass legislation to ban fracking, Newsom went around the Legislature and went straight to his regulatory agencies to do so.”
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