The Bureau of Land Management has suspended all oil and gas lease auctions in California until October.

In a press release, the agency said the sequester of the federal budget, along with the need to enforce existing leases and process new applications, led to the decision. But it also came after the Obama administration lost a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.

The lawsuit accused the BLM of failing to examine the impacts of hydraulic fracturing, a controversial energy-processing technique that's commonly known as fracking. The Interior Department is planning to release a regulation to cover fracking on public and Indian lands.

The forthcoming rule is the subject of a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee this morning.

Get the Story:
Federal agency postpones all oil and gas lease auctions in California, citing budget problems (AP 5/7)
US Interior says not bowing to outside groups on fracking regs (The Business Times 5/8)

Committee Notice:
Oversight Hearing on "DOI Hydraulic Fracturing Rule: A Recipe for Government Waste, Duplication and Delay" (May 8, 2013)

Related Stories:
House Natural Resources Committee hearing on fracking rule (5/6)