Environmental Groups File New Lawsuit over Fracking Leases

Last Thursday the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club filed lawsuit to stop the Bureau of Land Management from leasing 18,000 acres of federal land in California for shale oil development. The BLM auctioned the mineral development leases last December. The public lands in question are in central and southern California and sit atop the Monterey Shale formation that’s estimated to contain a wealth of potential oil that might be acquired using the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing. This legal action comes on the heels of a victory for environmental groups in federal court over lease sales the BLM made in 2011. The ruling found that the government’s environmental analysis did not sufficiently address the environmental consequences of fracking. Vic Bedoian reports from Fresno.