SB 406

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 the supervisor, on or before the first day of October of each year, to 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, on or before July 1, 2026, to make all public information collected or maintained by the division, as specified, and, on or before July 1, 2024, to make all notices of violation and orders of the supervisor readily available to the public on the division's internet website. The bill would require all online materials to be organized by well, operator, or project, and searchable. The bill would require the supervisor to make continuous progress towards meeting these requirements and would require the materials readily available to the public online to steadily increase. The bill would require priority be given to certain public information previously available on the division's internet website and documents associated with wells that have not been plugged and abandoned. Existing law requires the division to submit an annual report to the Legislature on well operations, as specified, organized statewide and by district. This bill would require the division, on or before July 1, 2023, to develop and implement an education and outreach program to provide training to local governmental entities on materials collected and maintained by the division related to oil and gas operations. Existing law requires the operator of a well to file a written notice of intention to commence drilling with, and prohibits any drilling until approval is given by, the supervisor or district deputy. Existing law authorizes the supervisor to require other pertinent information to supplement the notice. This bill would require the division to require a copy of the local land use authorization that supports the installation of a well at the time an operator submits the notice of intention for the well, and would require the division to modify its forms used to evaluate notices of intention to include expiration dates for the required local land use authorizations submitted with the notice of intention. Existing law requires an owner or operator of a well to keep, or cause to be kept, a careful and accurate log, core record, and history of the drilling of the well. Existing law requires the history to include, among other things, acid treatment data. This bill would clarify that the history of a well is required to include, among other things, all acid treatment data of any amount. Existing law requires the owner of any well to file with the supervisor a monthly statement that provides certain information relating to the well, including the source, volume, treatment, and disposition of water produced in oil and gas activities. Existing law also requires the owner of any well to file with the supervisor, on a quarterly basis, specified information relating to the well. Existing law also requires any operator that produces oil by the application of mining or other unconventional techniques to file a report with the supervisor, on or before March 1 of each year, showing the amount of oil produced by those techniques in the preceding calendar year. 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 require, on or before July 1, 2023, all operators to provide to the division the information described above electronically. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes the supervisor, upon their own initiative, and requires the supervisor, upon receipt of a written complaint from a person owning land or operating wells within a radius of one mile of any well or group of wells complained against, to make an investigation of the well or wells involved. Existing law requires the supervisor to make a written report and order, stating the work required to repair the damage complained of, or stating that no work is required. This bill would require the supervisor to additionally investigate a well or wells upon receipt of a written complaint from a person residing within a radius of one mile of any well or group of wells complained against. Existing law requires the department to, on or before June 15 of each year, acting in conjunction with the Department of Finance, make an estimate of the amount of money that will be required to carry out certain provisions regarding the regulation of oil and gas, including any adjustments for savings or increased expenditures in the current and prior fiscal years, and to determine the rate or rates that will produce the sums estimated necessary to be raised and to extend into the proper column of the record of assessments the amount of charges due from each person. This bill would require the Department of Conservation to post the information supporting the rate or rates on a publicly available portion of its internet website. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes. 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.