Environmental and public health groups are urging Kern County to reject a severely flawed Draft Environmental Impact Report related to proposed revisions of the county’s oil and gas zoning ordinance.

California is the nation’s third largest oil-producing state, and more than 80 percent of oil produced in the state comes from Kern County. The proposed ordinance revisions, as requested by the oil industry, purport to “streamline” oil and gas permitting and environmental review in Kern County by shielding oil and gas projects from environmental review and public notice requirements for a minimum of 25 years.

This means that local residents, who already breathe some of the dirtiest air in the country, will have little to no recourse to challenge future oil and gas extraction activities, including fracking and other oil drilling projects taking place in close proximity to their homes, schools and public spaces.