Governor Jerry Brown said it may take as long as 18 months for California, the third-largest oil-producing state, to complete an environmental review of the oil and gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, reports news service Bloomberg.
Technological advancements have ignited a boom in the development of fields that were once deemed uneconomical, particularly in shale formations. California lawmakers approved regulations for state oversight of fracking in September, writes Lynn Doan of Bloomberg.
The state’s Monterey Shale field may hold 15.4 billion barrels — two-thirds of the nation’s shale-oil reserves, according to U.S. estimates, the Bloomberg report notes; environmental groups including the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute say fracking poses unacceptable risks of air and water pollution.
