AB 3230

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells, as provided. Existing law requires that the supervisor, on or before the first day of October of each year, make public, for the benefit of all interested persons, a report in writing showing specified information, including the total amounts of oil and gas produced in each county in the state during the previous calendar year. This bill would require the supervisor to include in the report an inventory of all surface expressions that have occurred in the previous calendar year, separated by low and high energy. Existing law requires an operator proposing to perform a well stimulation treatment on a well to apply to the supervisor or a district deputy for a permit to perform the well stimulation treatment and imposes other requirements and conditions on the use of well stimulation treatments. Existing law defines a well stimulation treatment as being any treatment of a well designed to enhance oil and gas production or recovery by increasing the permeability of the formation, including hydraulic fracturing treatments and acid well stimulation treatments. Existing law excludes from the definition of well stimulation treatments steam flooding, water flooding, or cyclic steaming. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with this and other requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would qualify the exclusion from the definition of well stimulation treatment for cyclic steaming to that cyclic steaming that does not exceed the fracture gradient. Because the bill would limit the exclusion for cyclic steaming and thereby expand the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the division to review, evaluate, and update its regulations pertaining to cyclic steaming, by July 1, 2021, to include measures that ensure geologic and hydrologic isolation of the oil and gas formation during a cyclic steaming project, as specified. Upon the discovery of a surface expression leak from an oil and gas well, the bill would require the owner or operator of the oil and gas well to promptly notify the division of the jurisdiction in which the leak is located and require the division to post all relevant information regarding any surface expression reported to it and to promptly cooperate with all relevant state agencies on any surface expression leak. By imposing additional requirements on owners and operators of oil and gas wells, the violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides that a person who violates certain requirements related to the regulation of oil and gas is subject to specified civil penalties. The civil penalty amount for a well stimulation violation, as defined, is not less than $10,000 per day per violation and not more than $25,000 per day per violation. The civil penalty amount for a major violation, as defined, is not less than $2,500 per violation and not more than $25,000 per violation. This bill would make the maximum civil penalty for a well stimulation violation $50,000 per day per violation and make the maximum civil penalty for a major violation $50,000 per violation. The bill would authorize the supervisor to impose a greater civil penalty if the supervisor makes a written finding that a violation is a special circumstance that warrants a higher penalty than what is otherwise allowable. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.