VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – The Trump administration on Thursday took the final step to allow oil and gas drilling on more than 1 million acres of federal public land on California's central coast and San Joaquin Valley, despite a flood of public comment in opposition. 

The Bureau of Land Management will now allow new lease sales in 2020 on land that stretches across Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties. 

Published by: The Washington Times By: Interior Secretary David L. Bernhardt

Just as energy independence is fundamental to our nation’s security, reducing our dependence upon foreign countries for critical minerals is vital to our nation’s long-term interests. Prior to the Trump Administration, the policies coming out of Washington were marginalizing the energy, manufacturing and mining industries and, as a result, ultimately diminishing our country’s security. Those days are over.

SACRAMENTO,Calif. – A new report on the nation's Renewable Fuel Standard shows multiple ways the policy has had major unintended consequences for the environment. Researchers from University of California-Davis, Kansas State University and the University of Wisconsin found that promoting the biofuel ethanol drove up the prices of corn and soybeans – which led farmers to plant a lot more of those crops. 

David DeGennaro, agriculture policy specialist with the National Wildlife Federation, says that led to the conversion of 1.6 million new acres into farmland between 2009 and 2016.