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Page added on November 16, 2013
California oil well fracking regulations released
The Brown administration has released long-awaited proposed regulations for the controversial technique for drilling for oil and gas, hydraulic fracturing.
The process, known as “fracking,” has been going on for decades in oil-producing regions of California but with no special oversight by state regulators.
That changed earlier this year when Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 4, a bill by leading legislative environmentalist Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills).
The legislation was criticized for different reasons by the petroleum industry and anti-global warming activists. Oil companies thought it was too strong; environmentalists called it too weak.
Regulators are in the middle on the issue.
“We believe that once these proposed regulations go into effect at the start of 2015, we will have in place the strongest environmental and public health protections of any oil-and-gas-producing state in the nation while also ensuring that a key element of California’s economy can maintain its productivity,” said Mark Nechodom, director of the California Department of Conservation.
Many environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, dismiss the regulations as being too toothless to be effective.
Oil companies, however, appear to have made their peace at least in concept with the new rules, especially as they attempt to develop a potential enormous, untapped reservoir, the Monterey Shale Formation in the San Joaquin Valley.
“These regulations are extensive but strike the right balance,” said Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Assn., a trade group.
Pavley guardedly welcomed the release of the regulations. “I look forward to a thorough review of the proposed long-term regulations and the forthcoming emergency regulations, which are necessary first steps to end unregulated fracking,” she said.
Here’s a link to the regulations.
2 Comments on "California oil well fracking regulations released"
BillT on Sun, 17th Nov 2013 1:57 am
Regulations only work when they are enforced and penalties/jail time is imposed when they are ignored.
rockman on Sun, 17th Nov 2013 2:28 pm
Read all the new regs. Nothing there that hasn’t been required in Texas for decades except for:
Companies have to have a third party notify land owner of frac plan. Doesn’t not give landowner right to stop the frac…just let’s them know it going to happen. Of course ever land owner in Texas knows that’s going to happen the day he signs the lease for his Eagle Ford et al development. Not like it’s going to be a big surprise to any land owner leasing his Monterey Shale rights that the wells will be frac’d. In fact, he’s counting on it to be done.
A website where frac fluid descriptions are posted. Nothing wrong with that. But while the frac companies resist publishing the exact chem composition of their fluids, the basic toxic components have been known for a very long time. Nothing will be posted on that web site that hasn’t been seen in publicly available reports for a long time. Heck…go to an environmental advocate web site and you’ll find a complete list of all the nastiest.
Potent damage to offset wells: Texas actually requires analysis of a wider radius. The CA regs could easily be manipulated by the companies IMHO.
CA requires an estimate during the first five years of production as to how much frac fluid continues to be recovered from the well. I’m not sure what this adds to the environmental protection efforts. In Texas regardless of the source of any toxic liquid coming out of a well, including salt water, the certification of the proper disposal of said fluids is required.
There’s really nothing of any real difficulty/expense for the companies to comply. In fact, from what I’ve seen of previous regs in CA nothing meaningful has changed. As Bill says monitoring and enforcement are critical. This is where New England states, especially PA and NY, failed big time initially. Not that accidents don’ happen but notice how few frac problem stories have come out of Texas. And it isn’t just the Rail Road Commission that’s keeping a close eye on the situation: land owners and a sizable collection of law firms that specialize in suing oil companies carry a big stick. And the Texas courts are very protective of the land owners. I’ve consulted a number of times on behalf of a landowner and they all won.