Local farmer sues Kern County for the way it issues oil drilling permits - Bakersfield Now

Local farmer sues Kern County for the way it issues oil drilling permits

BAKERSFIELD, California — A Fresno court has ruled in favor of a Kern County farmer that sued the county for the way in which it issues oil and gas drilling permits. This farmer believes the county is prioritizing the oil industry and in turn is failing to protect farmlands from the impacts of oil drilling.

This lawsuit has been going on for several years. It was first heard in the Kern County Superior Court and then made its way to the California Court of Appeal in Fresno.

The Manager of V Lions Farming, Keith Gardiner, sued the county in order to challenge an oil ordinance it passed in 2015. This ordinance would allow the county to speed up the approval of thousands of new oil and gas wells by 2040.

The county estimates that drilling under this ordinance would destroy over 7,000 acres of farmland in 25 years.

Gardiner’s attorney, Kevin Bundy, told us at first his client was quite reluctant to take this matter up to court.

Bunday said Gardiner then moved forward with the lawsuit after he expressed his concerts to officials at Board of Supervisor meetings several times.

"He spent a lot of time going to county meetings just trying to get them to do the right thing,” said Bundy. “The county's proposals for addressing the impacts of oil and gas drilling on farmland really fell short again and again."

The Fresno court's 106-page ruling in favor of the farmer, says the county's ordinance failed to follow the California Environmental Quality Act.

The reason given? The county’s broad oil permit approval harms key agricultural elements like damaged crops and polluted groundwater. In more simple terms, if oil drilling permits are easily approved it could harm crops, soil, and pollute groundwater.

The ruling required the county to go back to the drawing board and make several changes to their ordinance. These changes must meet the CEQA before they issue any more oil permits.

In a statement in the county said:
“Kern County staff and counsel are reviewing the 106 page decision and discussing our agency’s next steps. We are pleased to see we prevailed on the important issue of mitigating PM 2.5 among other issues. 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.”