Kern County planning panel recommends readopting oil-and-gas zoning ordinance, forwards EIR to supervisors

The Kern County Planning Commission on a 4-0 vote recommended that the Board of Supervisors certify a supplemental recirculated environmental impact report and readopt revisions to Title 19 of the county zoning ordinance that would restore local oil-and-gas permitting and impose new mitigation and design standards.

Lorelei Oviatt, director of the Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department, told the commission the ordinance under consideration is the 2015 ordinance the board previously adopted, revised to address three court-mandated CEQA issues: use of agricultural conservation easements, a multi-well health risk analysis regarding setbacks from sensitive receptors, and impacts of drilling on water supplies for disadvantaged communities. "The ordinance before your commission tonight is the same as the ordinance originally adopted by the board of supervisors 11/09/2015, with minor amendments implemented to comply with the findings of the supplemental recirculated EIR," Oviatt said during the staff presentation.

The ordinance would reestablish a local, largely ministerial permitting system for oil-and-gas activities in unincorporated Kern County. Under staff descriptions, a new drilling project would generally require an "oil and gas conformity review" (the primary permit) while smaller changes would use a "minor activity review." "What ministerial means is if you comply with the requirements, you get a permit. There's no discretion in this," Oviatt said. Staff said the ordinance includes many mitigation measures and development standards; the staff report and appendices contain the detailed requirements.

Why it matters: the county has not issued local permits since the ordinance was rescinded by court actions. Staff said reauthorizing local permitting with a mitigation monitoring and reporting program would restore a county-level review that it says provides site-specific mitigations that CalGEM-led permitting has not required. Opponents, including environmental justice organizations and community residents, said the changes would fast-track tens of thousands of wells, worsen air and water harms in already overburdened communities, and do not guarantee adequate local notice or protection.

K…