Image by William_PotterOPINION – There’s been news coverage lately about potential large-scale selloffs of national public lands. While there is no doubt that California has an affordable housing crisis, we don’t believe that large-scale public lands selloffs are the answer.
A pumpjack in California's San Joaquin Valley. (Photo: Mark Geistweite, via Shutterstock)The Trump administration is to opening up 1.2 million acres for oil and gas drilling across California from the Central Valley to the coast, targeting eight counties — Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obisbo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.T he plan follows an earlier move by the federal Bureau of Land Management to issue leases for oil and gas drilling on roughly 800,000 acres in 11 counties.