2-environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to halt plans to drill for oil and natural gas in south monterey county. the sierra club and the center for biological diversity filed the suit, challenging the lease of over 23-hundred acres to an energy company, B-L-N. The company has 10-years to develop the land for drilling, but the environmental groups contend that the land should not be made available, because the process being used was not adequately studied. The suit contends that hydraulic fracturing would threaten water supplies and endanger local plants and animals. B-L-N contends the process is safe and has been used at hundreds of locations around California. The case is scheduled to continue in march.
