No New CA Oil Drilling Permits Approved in 2nd Quarter, But Thousands of New Wells Proposed

Los Angeles, CA — We have both some good news and some very bad news on the oil drilling front in California.

No new drilling permits for oil and gas wells were approved in California in the second quarter of 2025. That extends a “promising trend in reduced fossil fuel development over the last two years” under Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration, according to Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance in a press statement.

At the same time, the two groups warn that this progress could be reversed if state leaders allow Kern County to fast-track thousands of new drilling permits under a controversial local ordinance. 

New proposed legislation could open the door to as many as 4,700 new drilling permits in its first year that would not be subject to environmental review, according to FracTracker’s analysis. 

“Since taking office in January 2019, Governor Newsom’s administration has approved about 18,515 oil and gas permits,” the groups wrote. “While this figure is high, annual permit approvals have sharply declined during his tenure. In 2019, the state issued 2,366 new drilling permits. By comparison, just 73 were approved in all of 2024, and only 4 have been granted in the first half of 2025. This downward trajectory reflects a deliberate shift away from oil and gas expansion, but that momentum is now at risk.”

In June, the Kern County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a revised oil and gas ordinance that would permit roughly 2,700 new wells per year in unincorporated areas, based on a single EIR, as I reported here: www.dailykos.com/…

“Courts had previously struck down two similar attempts due to failures to evaluate key environmental risks, including air and water quality, noise, cancer risk, and farmland impacts. It is up to Newsom to decide whether to back CalGEM’s authority to deny permits based on insufficient environmental review or to direct CalGEM to accept the fast-tracked permitting without the agency’s environmental review,” the groups wrote.

“This ordinance would be a dangerous reversal of Governor Newsom’s commitment to rein in the oil industry,” said Liza Tucker, consumer advocate at Consumer Watchdog. “If Kern County is allowed to greenlight thousands of new oil wells annually, it would be a catastrophe for California’s climate goals—and for Newsom’s environmental legacy. This will haunt him.”

Kyle Ferrar, Western Program Director at FracTracker Alliance, echoed those concerns. “California is emerging as a climate leader in the U.S., but we still have a long way to go to match the progress of countries like China and those in Europe that are aggressively investing in renewable energy. To stay on track, California must continue to scale back oil and gas extraction and invest more in renewable energy, energy storage, and energy efficiency.”

Adding to the concern, the Governor’s Office is drafting legislation that would codify the Kern ordinance. 

“If passed, the bill could shield the ordinance from further legal challenges and sidestep CalGEM, the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency, by weakening environmental oversight. The proposed legislation could open the door to as many as 4,700 new drilling permits in its first year, none of which would be subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA),” the groups revealed.

“The Governor’s supposed reason for approving new wells in Kern County is to keep the pipelines to Northern California refineries operating,” said Tucker. “But expanding drilling across the entire state goes far beyond that purpose. It’s nothing more than a giveaway to oil companies that have already caused significant environmental damage. If passed, this legislation could set a dangerous precedent for the Central Coast and other oil-producing counties like Contra Costa, Fresno, and Kings.”

“While no new oil drilling permits were approved in the second quarter, CalGEM did approve four permits for underground gas storage wells, each located within the 3,200-foot public health buffer zone established by SB 1137 to protect communities from the dangers of oil and gas operations,” Tucker stated.

Additionally, seven permits were issued to rework existing wells within this buffer zone. One of these wells, in Inglewood, will be used for water flooding to extract more oil, while another in the Wilmington Oil Field will serve a similar purpose, the groups observed.

“It’s clear that increased permitting will lead to more drilling near frontline communities,” said Ferrar. “While CalGEM does not seem to consider gas storage and injection wells in the same category as production, these wells support nearby production and are not benign. They are long-term sources of environmental harm.”

Communities for a Better Environment leaked the language of the trailer bill from the Newsom administration, calling it a “blank check” to increase onshore drilling statewide with no environmental review.

“We absolutely reject this outrageous blank check for unlimited oil drilling across the state of California for the next decade,” CBE said in a statement.”Make no mistake: the climate impacts of this will hurt every community, but it will most harm communities of color, Indigenous, migrant and low-income communities who are already disproportionately harmed by oil and gas extraction.

“It abandons California’s equity, climate, and public health goals and does nothing to address affordability. We demand the Governor immediately pull back this dangerous plan and work with communities and the Legislature on real solutions that protect our health, our climate, and our future,” CBE concluded.  

Newsom’s drafting of legislation to expand oil drilling in California becomes even more ominous when you consider Newsom’s already abysmal record on environmental justice and California ecosystems — and his recent dalliance with far right influencers like Charlie Kirk, Michael Savage and Steve Bannon on his podcasts.

Newsom has been pushing the salmon-killing Delta Tunnel, Sites Reservoir and Big- Ag backed “voluntary” agreements at the behest of his Big Ag donors such as Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the largest orchard fruit growers in the world. These projects would hasten the extinction of Sacramento winter, spring and fall-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, green and white sturgeon, Delta and long fin smelt and other fish species.

Under Newsom’s water policies that favor Big Ag donors over fish, wildlife and the Bay Delta ecosystem, commercial salmon fishing has been closed off the California Coast for an unprecedented third year in a row. And no Delta smelt, once the most abundant fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, have been found in the California Department Fish and Wildlife’s Fall Midwater Trawl Survey in 7 years.

The Delta smelt has become virtually extinct in the wild under the Newsom Administration — and rather than making things better, the Governor supports massive water exports to corporate agribusiness in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California water brokers. The support that Newsom might have received from environmental groups, fishing organizations, Tribes and environmental justice groups has been now replaced by outrage at a time that the Governor should be working with them to stop Trump Administration attacks on the public trust.