Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration will reportedly head to trial April 1 with a whistleblower who claims he was ordered to illegally reject oil-well drilling permits.
Uduak-Joe Ntuk, the former head of the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), alleged that he was “forced and coerced to resign” from his position nine days after filing a complaint with the state on January 4, 2023, National Review reported.
BREAKING: Ex-California Oil Official Says Newsom Administration Pressured Him to Illegally Withhold Drilling Permits https://t.co/GuNBz2KHkJ
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 27, 2024
Newsom’s administration allegedly demanded that Ntuk stop issuing new oil-well drilling permits “without statutory authority or regulations,” according to the former CalGEM head’s lawsuit filed in Sept. 2023, National Review reported.
Ntuk said he defied the order of Newsom’s administration to enforce S.B. 1137, which was placed on hold until an upcoming referendum vote in Nov. 2024. The law, signed by Newsom on Sept. 16, 2022, prevented new wells from being drilled within 3,200 feet of homes, schools and other “sensitive” locations, according to the outlet. (RELATED: ‘She Is Never Here’: Residents Of AOC’s District Blast NYC’s Crime Wave, Migrant Crisis)
Ntuk claimed he was “directed by the governor’s office to continue to implement S.B. 1137 even after [its] qualifying for the November 2024 ballot” after senior California officials reportedly met with environmental activists, according to the outlet.
Ntuk said he was told to cite the referendum’s verification process to justify the stoppage of issuing permits, the outlet reported. However, the former CalGEM head “felt that he did not have the legal or constitutional authority” to prevent oil-well drilling permits from being issued statewide.
At the time, Ntuk said he was resigning in Jan. 2023 to focus on his family, National Review noted. The whistleblower’s attorney, Jamon Hicks, has since revealed that Ntuk only made that excuse out of concern of being “blacklisted if he did not abide by what he was instructed to do.”