California has reached a settlement with federal officials to cease leasing public land for natural gas and oil development in the central part of the state until potential risks are assessed.

BLM

State Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta said the moratorium announced Monday followed years of legal challenges by environmental groups and state officials. 

One lawsuit, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, accused the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), under the Trump administration, of allowing more than one million acres of public land in Central California to be available for drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) without full assessments of air quality and groundwater. 

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District...