FRESNO, Calif. (CN) — Kern County can no longer issue local permits for oil and gas projects after a state appeals court found, for the second time, that its local ordinance violated California environmental law.
On Thursday, a Fifth Appellate District panel ruled unanimously that Kern County relied on a flawed environmental review and violated California’s Environmental Quality Act to approve its local oil and gas ordinance, designed to fast-track permitting of oil and gas projects. County officials are prohibited from issuing local permits for oil and gas projects, including for a contested project that would occupy much of San Joaquin Valley.
Acting Presiding Judge Donald Franson, an Arnold Schwarzenegger appointee, wrote the opinion Thursday. Judges Mark Snauffer and Rosendo Peña Jr., both Jerry Brown appointees, were concurring.
The panel found that the county’s study of cancer risks for those living near multiple wells was deficient, as was its analysis of the impacts of drilling near houses and schools. Under a proposed project, the county intended to allow drilling just 210 feet from residences and 300 feet from schools.
The county also failed to adequately evaluate and address the oil and gas industry’s use of water, which is expected to lower groundwater levels in local wells across the county — especially in disadvantaged communities, the court said.
"The administrative record contains substantial evidence supporting a fair argument that groundwater wells in the project area have been and continue to be at risk for dewatering," Franson wrote. "Therefore, any subsequent [environmental impact reports] seeking to correct the defects should address that evidence."
If Kern County tries for a third time to fast-track an oil and gas project, it will first have to adopt a new ordinance and redo its environmental review process.
Thursday's ruling comes after a consolidated lawsuit that brought together a local farming company — V Lions Farming — and several community organizations. Among them were the Committee for a Better Arvin; the Committee for a Better Shafter; Comité Progreso de Lamont; the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the Sierra Club; and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Activists with those groups applauded the ruling on Thursday, including in a news release from the National Resources Defense Council.
“This is a victory for all the farmers and residents of Kern County,” said Keith Gardiner, plaintiff and manager of V Lions Farming. “County officials have a responsibility to protect our incredibly valuable Central Valley farmland, not just the economic interests of the oil industry.”
The court's decision shows that state law designed to protect communities and the environment "from one of the state's most destructive industries" must be enforced in order to work, Colin O'Brien, an attorney at Earthjustice, said in a statement.
Mercedes Macias, a Kern County organizer with the Sierra Club, added that the decision signals that courts would not tolerate cutting corners at the expense of air, water and soil.
“The county’s attempts to shirk its responsibility to protect the health and safety of Kern residents have been thwarted again," Macias said. "The Sierra Club and our partners applaud the court’s decision that will block this latest attempt to greenlight projects without adequate safeguards or accountability."
Anabel Marquez, president of Committee for a Better Shafter, said that while "the codependence between Kern and the oil and gas industry may persist," activists would "continue to be thorns in their sides, fighting for the clean air, water and land that we deserve.”
Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, added that “Kern County is hell-bent on squeezing every last drop of oil out of the ground, no matter the consequences.
"It’s vital that every permit gets a rigorous review to protect public health and our environment from this dirty and dangerous industry," Kretzmann added.
A spokesperson for Kern County said that its legal counsel is reviewing the decision.
"We are pleased to see we prevailed on the important issue of mitigating PM 2.5 among other issues," the county said. "As always, our Kern County Board of Supervisors continues to support our oil industry and environmentally protective oil and gas permitting as part of the energy future of not only Kern County, but California at large.”
This is the second time the appeals court has ruled that the county’s approval of oil and gas permits violates state environmental law. In a 2020 decision, the court determined that county environmental impact report was defective and ordered the county to correct those defects.
When the county prepared a revised supplemental environmental impact report and adopted a modified ordinance in 2021, a state court determined that the violations had been corrected. Kern County first adopted its ordinance in 2015 with the goal of fast-tracking tens of thousands of new wells.
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