BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1274
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Das Williams, Chair
AB 1274
(Stone) - As Amended March 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Public lands: geological or geophysical surveys
SUMMARY: Authorizes the State Lands Commission to permit
geophysical surveys on state lands, subject to specified
conditions and exceptions.
EXISTING LAW:
1)The Commission currently has authority to issue permits for
geological or geophysical surveys on ungranted state lands,
which is currently located within an oil and gas leasing
statute.
2)The Commission currently has permitting authority for
obtaining core samples to obtain geological information on
lands within its jurisdiction, and has discretion in adopting
permitting rules and regulations for this activity.
THIS BILL:
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1)Authorizes the Commission to permit geophysical surveys on
state lands, including granted and ungranted tidelands and
submerged lands, subject to terms and conditions as the
commission shall specify to ensure public safety and
protection of the environment.
2)Provides that no permit shall be required for any geophysical
survey performed on public trust lands granted by statute to a
local trustee if the geophysical survey is performed in
support of dredging occurring on the granted public trust
lands.
3)Requires the Commission to adopt regulations and any
applicable California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Background. In 1941, the Commission was given permitting
authority for geological or geophysical surveys on ungranted
tide and submerged lands. This authority was placed into an
oil and gas leasing statute because at the time most surveys
were geological and intended for oil and gas exploration only.
Geophysical surveys today use acoustic-generating or passive
equipment for numerous purposes besides oil and gas
exploration, which include scientific, engineering, safety,
and research. Potential impacts of low-energy geophysical
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surveys include detrimental effects on wildlife and negative
impacts on divers or fishermen. Pursuant to the California
Environmental Quality Act, the Commission has prepared a
Mitigation Negative Declaration to identify and address these
concerns. The Commission issued seven non-exclusive permits
for geophysical survey activities in 2013 and two
non-exclusive permits in 2014.
A 2014 assessment of the low energy geophysical permit program
found that numerous unpermitted surveys were being conducted.
This unauthorized activity can lead to unfair competitive
advantages and unmitigated damage to wildlife and the coastal
environment.
2)Purpose of this bill. According to the Commission, the purpose
of this bill is to address compliance concerns by requiring
implementing regulations and to better reflect current survey
practices by separating geophysical permitting authority from
the oil and gas statute. The Commission states that the added
statutory language will provide clarity and make the
permitting authority more apparent to operators, which will
help address compliance concerns.
Geophysical survey compliance issues will also be addressed by
expanding permitting authority to include legislatively
granted public trust lands. Permits for geophysical surveys on
these lands are currently not required, and it is uncertain as
to how many surveys are being conducted on granted public
trust lands. Over 80 local municipalities have been
legislatively granted management responsibilities for
sovereign public trust lands, and the Commission maintains
residual and review authority for these granted lands.
3)Existing law. As stated earlier, existing law (Public
Resources Code, Section 6826) already contains language
regarding permitting for geophysical surveys on state lands.
The existing statute also has requirements for geophysical
survey permittees to report results, logs, and records from
their operations, as well as confidentiality conditions for
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the members of the Commission. Having duplicative permitting
authority might cause confusion during implementation of this
bill. As the bill moves forward the author and sponsor should
consider how to resolve this duplication.
4)Compliance enforcement. It appears uncertain how the added
statutory language will significantly reduce unpermitted
surveys on public lands. What type of enforcement actions is
the Commission planning on taking in order to resolve these
concerns?
5)Suggested Amendments. In order to better clarify and align the
regulations with the intent of the language, the author and
committee may wish to consider striking the reference to CEQA
and instead add the following line to Section 6212.3 (c) on
page 3, line 11: "The regulations shall include conditions
that address and minimize the potential for impacts to aquatic
life or to the marine and coastal environment that might arise
from geophysical surveys performed on state lands"
Also, in order to clearly state how the Commission intends to
improve enforcement compliance, the author and committee may
wish to consider adding subdivision (d) in Section 6212.3 to
read:
"(d) The Commission may enforce compliance with the
permit through actions such as:
(1) Providing educational outreach to increase awareness of
permitting regulations and enforcement actions.
(2) Using a toll-free number to report permit violators.
(3) Issuing cease and desist orders to permit violators."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 1274
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Support
State Lands Commission (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Paul Jacobs / NAT. RES. / (916) 319-2092