Kern oil permitting battle plays out in court
Lawyers sparred Thursday over whether an amended environmental review undergirding Kern County’s oil and gas permitting system lives up to the standards of the California Environmental Quality Act, an open question that continues to limit in-state petroleum production. During a three-hour hearing in front of Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp, attorneys for three environmental groups pressed their case that the county continues to fall short of CEQA requirements in terms of cushioning the local oil industry’s impact on farmland, people living near production wells, availability of drinking water, noise, air quality and the Temblor legless lizard.