A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a Department of Justice request to pause a California policy that restricts oil and gas companies from drilling near sensitive locations, such as homes, schools and hospitals.
What happened: U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins denied the Trump administration’s motion to issue a preliminary injunction blocking California from enforcing a 2022 law, SB 1137.
Why it matters: The ruling is a significant blow to the Trump administration’s effort to scrap the buffer zone policy. The California law infuriated the oil industry and has sparked multiple legal challenges.
Context: In January, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division sued California in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, challenging SB 1137. The Trump administration argued that the bill would knock out about one-third of all federally authorized oil and gas leases in California, and that federal law preempted the state policy.
