SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Leasing for new oil and gas drilling on federal land in California’s Central Valley is temporarily blocked under a settlement announced Monday by the state attorney general. The deal with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management centers on about 2,500 square miles of land owned by the federal government. The bureau has agreed to halt the sale of oil and gas leases while it conducts a fresh review on the environmental effects of fracking, a process for extracting oil and gas from rock. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to ban fracking in the state by 2024.
Settlement blocks new federal fracking leases in California
