BILL NUMBER: AB 1905	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wilk

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2016

   An act to add Section 3270.7 to the Public Resources Code,
relating to oil and gas, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1905, as introduced, Wilk. Natural gas injection and storage:
study.
   Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling,
operation, maintenance, stimulation, and abandonment of oil and gas
wells in the state. Existing law requires the Secretary of the
Natural Resources Agency to complete an independent scientific study
on well stimulation treatments, as specified.
   The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources
Agency, on or before July 1, 2017, to cause to be conducted, and
completed, an independent scientific study on natural gas injection
and storage practices and facilities, as specified.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 3270.7 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:
   3270.7.  On or before July 1, 2017, the Secretary of the Natural
Resources Agency shall cause to be conducted, and completed, an
independent scientific study on natural gas injection and storage
practices and facilities. The scientific study shall evaluate the
hazards and risks and potential hazards and risks that natural gas
injection and storage pose to natural resources and public,
occupational, and environmental health and safety. The scientific
study shall do all of the following:
   (a) Follow the well-established standard protocols of the
scientific profession, including, but not limited to, the use of
recognized experts, peer review, and publication.
   (b) (1) Identify and evaluate well construction standards and
operation techniques for both existing injection wells and for newly
drilled injection wells.
   (2) Determine the average age of injection wells at gas storage
facilities in the state and evaluate whether the construction
standards used in aging wells are adequate to continue to protect
public and environmental health and safety.
   (c) Identify the proximity of existing natural gas storage
facilities in the state to population centers and the risks posed by
those facilities to nearby populations.
   (d) (1) Identify the chemicals currently used as odorants at
natural gas storage facilities in the state and the public health and
environmental risks posed by those odorants.
   (2) Evaluate potential alternatives to the odorants currently in
use to determine if there are any feasible alternative odorants that
pose a lower risk to public and environmental health.
   (e) Evaluate the current state regulatory structure for natural
gas injection and storage facilities and recommend measures that
would better protect public and environmental health and safety while
still maintaining energy reliability.
   (f) Clearly identify where additional information is necessary to
inform and improve the analyses.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   Due to a currently ongoing leak of primarily methane, a potent
greenhouse gas, from the Southern California Gas Company Aliso Canyon
SS-25 well that began on October 23, 2015, the unknown effects on
the community of and surrounding Porter Ranch must be studied at the
earliest possible time, independent from Southern California Gas
Company and in order to prevent future harm from similar events, it
is necessary that this act take effect immediately.