The US Bureau of Land Management will offer 43 parcels covering roughly 35,000 acres at a Dec. 1 oil and gas lease sale in California, the agency's California field office announced Oct. 1.

The sale advances the Trump administration's plan to restart federal leasing in the state after years of litigation and environmental review. It would mark a return of competitive federal leasing to a state where the program has been stalled in court battles.

Where is the acreage?

About 97% of the offered acreage lies in Kern County, the workhorse of California production. BLM also plans to auction smaller, isolated parcels in:

• Kings County
• Fresno County
• San Luis Obispo County

More than 95% of federal drilling operations in California currently take place in established fields in the Kern County area of the San Joaquin Valley, according to BLM.

What about surface access?

More than half of the proposed lease acreage involves a split estate. In these parcels, the federal government owns the underlying oil and gas minerals while a private party owns the surface land — a structure that can complicate siting and access for future operators.

Protests and prior review

The Oct. 1 announcement opens a 30-day public protest period that closes Nov. 2. The procedural record to date includes:

• Initial scoping for the parcels, completed in July
• A public comment period on the lease plan and environmental assessment, concluded in September
• An environmental analysis released in August

How is California responding?

California Attorney General Rob Bonta criticized BLM's August environmental analysis, saying the review relies on earlier planning documents and fails to adequately account for California's restrictions on drilling near homes and schools and its phaseout of hydraulic fracturing.

His objections signal potential legal challenge ahead of the sale, echoing the litigation that froze California federal leasing in prior years.

Watch item

The protest window closes Nov. 2. Whether the Dec. 1 sale proceeds — and whether California files suit before the auction — will determine if federal leasing in the San Joaquin Valley finally restarts.