AB 669, as amended, Stone. Oil and gas: drilling.
Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. The State Oil and Gas Supervisor supervises the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field regarding safety and environmental damage. Existing law further requires a person who acquires the right to operate a well or production facility, whether by purchase, transfer, assignment, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition, to meet specific requirements before drilling operations.
This bill would additionally require the operator prior to drilling, redrilling, or deepening operations to submit proof to the supervisor that the applicable regional water quality control board has approved the disposal method and location of wastewater disposal for the well.
Existing law requires the supervisor, on or before the first day of October of each year, to make public a report on specified information. Existing law requires an operator of a well, on or before the end of each month, to file with the supervisor a statement for the last preceding calendar month detailing specified information.
This bill would additionally require the supervisor to include information on the origin and total amount of freshwater used in each county for the production of oil and gas production, the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production in each county, and the well casing failures in each county. The bill would additionally require the operator of a well to include in the statement information on the origin and total amount of freshwater used in each wellbegin insert or in each oil field if the operator has multiple wells within the oil field,end insert and the disposal of wastewater.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 3108 of the Public Resources Code is
2amended to read:
(a) On or before the first day of October of each year
4the supervisor shall make public, for the benefit of all interested
5persons, a report in writing showing:
6(1) The total amounts of oil and gas produced in each county
7in the state during the previous calendar year.
8(2) The total cost of the division for the previous fiscal year.
9(3) The total amount delinquent and uncollected from any
10assessments or charges levied pursuant to this chapter.
11(4) The origin and total amount of
freshwater used in each
12county for oil and gas production during the previous calendar
13year.
14(5) The surface and underground destinations and total amount
15of disposed wastewater from oil and gas production in each county
16during the previous calendar year.
17(6) The total number of well casing failures in each county, the
18exact location of these wells, the reason for the failures, and at
19what point the failures occurred, such as during well completion,
20well stimulation, or well production, during the previous calendar
21year.
P3 1(b) The report shall also include other information as the
2supervisor deems advisable.
Section 3203 of the Public Resources Code is amended
4to read:
(a) The operator of a well, before commencing the work
6of drilling the well, shall file with the supervisor or the district
7deputy a written notice of intention to commence drilling. Drilling
8shall not commence until approval is given by the supervisor or
9the district deputy. If the supervisor or the district deputy fails to
10give the operator written response to the notice within 10 working
11days from the date of receipt, that failure shall be considered as
12an approval of the notice and the notice, for the purposes and
13intents of this chapter, shall be deemed a written report of the
14supervisor. If operations have not commenced within one year of
15receipt of the notice, the notice shall be deemed canceled. The
16notice
shall contain the pertinent data the supervisor requires on
17printed forms supplied by the division or on other forms acceptable
18to the supervisor. The supervisor may require other pertinent
19information to supplement the notice.
20(b) After the completion of any well, this section also applies
21as far as may be, to the deepening or redrilling of the well, any
22operation involving the plugging of the well, or any operations
23permanently altering in any manner the casing of the well. The
24number or designation of any well, and the number or designation
25specified for any well in a notice filed as required by this section,
26shall not be changed without first obtaining a written consent of
27the supervisor.
28(c) If an operator has failed to comply with an order of the
29supervisor, the supervisor
may deny approval of proposed well
30operations until the operator brings its existing well operations
31into compliance with the order. If an operator has failed to pay a
32civil penalty, remedy a violation that it is required to remedy to
33the satisfaction of the supervisor pursuant to an order issued under
34Section 3236.5, or to pay any charges assessed under Article 7
35(commencing with Section 3400), the supervisor may deny
36approval to the operator’s proposed well operations until the
37operator pays the civil penalty, remedies the violation to the
38satisfaction of the supervisor, or pays the charges assessed under
39Article 7 (commencing with Section 3400).
P4 1(d) Prior to the approval of the commencement of any drilling,
2redrilling, or deepening of a well, the operator shall submit written
3proof to the supervisor that the applicable regional water
quality
4control board has approved the disposal method and location of
5begin deletedisposal of end deletethebegin delete wastewater, including, but not limited to, produced begin insert wastewaterend insert for the well.
6water and flowback,end delete
Section 3227 of the Public Resources Code is amended
8to read:
(a) The owner of a well shall file with the supervisor,
10on or before the last day of each month, for the last preceding
11calendar month, a statement, in the form designated by the
12supervisor, showing all of the following:
13(1) The amount of oil and gas produced from each well during
14the period indicated, together with the gravity of the oil, the amount
15of water produced from each well, estimated in accordance with
16methods approved by the supervisor, and the number of days during
17which fluid was produced from each well.
18(2) The number of wells drilling, producing, injecting, or idle,
19that
are owned or operated by the person.
20(3) What disposition was made of the gas produced from each
21field, including the names of persons, if any, to whom the gas was
22delivered, and any other information regarding the gas and its
23disposition that the supervisor may require.
24(4) begin deleteWhat disposition was made of the water produced from each begin insertThe end insertamount of fluid or gas injected into each well
25field, and the end delete
26used for enhanced recovery, underground storage of hydrocarbons,
27begin delete or waste water disposalend delete and any other information regarding those
28wells
that the supervisor may require.
29(5) The total amount ofbegin delete wastewater, including, but not limited begin insert wastewaterend insert generated per well,
30to, produced water and flowback,end delete
31the amount of wastewater disposed per disposition type, and the
32location of each disposition site.
33(6) The origin and total amount of freshwater used in each well
34begin insert or in each oil field if the operator has multiple wells within the oil
35fieldend insert.
36(b) An operator that produces oil by the application of mining
37or
other unconventional techniques shall file a report with the
38supervisor, on or before March 1 of each year, showing the amount
39of oil produced by those techniques in the preceding calendar year.
P5 1(c) Upon request and making a satisfactory showing therefor,
2a longer filing period may be established by the supervisor for any
3particular owner or operator.
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