The federal government held a controversial auction on Wednesday to allow for oil drilling and fracking on some 18,000 acres of California public land. The Bureau of Land Management said at least eight bidders in Sacramento competed for oil leases in areas of Central California, home to some of the largest deposits of shale oil in the United States. The auction was met by dozens of protesters chanting environmental slogans and donning hazmat suits. In a statement, protest organizer and environmental watchdog the Center for Biological Diversity said: “The federal government should protect these beautiful public places, not sell them off to be drilled and fracked, risking irreparable harm to our air, water and climate.”