BILL NUMBER: AB 591 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 12, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wieckowski
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Dickinson)
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
An act to amend Sections 3107 and 3203 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to oil and gas production.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 591, as amended, Wieckowski. Oil and gas production: hydraulic
fracturing.
(1) 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 requires the
district deputy to prepare maps regarding oil and gas production in
each district and to collect information regarding the presence of
oil and gas and the location and extent of strata bearing water or
surface water suitable for irrigation or domestic purposes.
This bill would instead require the district deputy to collect
information on the presence of oil and gas deposits and the location
and extent of strata bearing water or surface water suitable for
irrigation, domestic, industrial, or wildlife purposes that might be
affected. The bill would also require the maps prepared by the
district deputy to be posted, as specified, on the division's
Internet Web site.
(2) Existing law requires the operator of a well, before
commencing the work of drilling the well, to file with the supervisor
or the district deputy a written notice of intention to commence
drilling, and prohibits the commencement of drilling until approval
is given by the supervisor or the district deputy. The existing Safe
Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65)
prohibits any person, in the course of doing business, from knowingly
and intentionally exposing any individual to a chemical known to the
state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without giving a
specified warning, or from discharging or releasing such a chemical
into any source of drinking water, except as specified.
This bill would revise that procedure to instead require the
operator to file an application before commencing drilling and would
require additional information to be included in the application,
including information regarding the chemicals, if any, to be
injected that the operator intends to bring onsite
for purposes of injecting into the well. The bill
The bill would also require the operator, after
drilling has commenced, to submit certain information to the
supervisor, including a list of chemicals used, and would
require the supervisor to post the information regarding the type of
process and list of listed chemicals on
the division's Internet Web site. The bill would require the
operator to notify every property owner and occupant of property
within one mile of a well if the application
listed chemicals includes a chemical known to cause cancer or
reproductive toxicity pursuant to the list adopted in accordance with
the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Hydraulic fracturing is a technique used in the production of
oil and gas that involves the pressurized injection of water and a
mix of chemical into an underground geologic formation in order to
fracture the formation, thereby causing or enhancing the production
of oil or gas from a well.
(b) Hydraulic fracturing has been used in California for several
decades to extract oil and gas and is likely to be used more
extensively as the industry seeks to develop additional oil and gas
bearing formations.
(c) The Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the
Department of Conservation, which has the obligation to protect
public health and the resources of the state, including groundwater
resources, has the authority to regulate all oil and natural gas
drilling in the state, but currently does not require the disclosure
of pertinent information regarding hydraulic fracturing or ascertain
what specific types of production and exploration are taking place at
permitted wells.
(d) Given California's geologic, seismic complexity, and finite
and significantly compromised water resources, it is important to
collect basic information about natural resource production
processes. The state and the public should know when and where
hydraulic fracturing is occurring and what chemicals are being used
in the process.
SEC. 2. Section 3107 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
3107. (a) A district deputy in each district, designated by the
supervisor, shall collect all necessary information regarding the oil
and gas wells in the district, with a view to determining the
presence of oil and gas deposits and the location and extent of
strata bearing water or surface water suitable for irrigation,
domestic, industrial, or wildlife purposes that might be affected.
(b) The district deputy shall prepare maps and other accessories
necessary to determine the presence of oil and gas deposits and the
location and extent of strata bearing water or surface water suitable
for irrigation, domestic, industrial, or wildlife purposes. The maps
prepared by the district deputy pursuant to this section shall be
posted on the division's Internet Web site, as a modification to any
existing maps, and shall include the information obtained pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) subdivision
(b) of Section 3203.
(c) This work shall be done with the view to advising an operator
as to the best means of protecting the oil and gas sands
deposits and the water-bearing strata and
surface water, and with a view to aiding the supervisor in ordering
tests or repair work at wells. All data shall be kept on file in the
office of the district deputy of the respective district.
SEC. 3. Section 3203 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
3203. (a) The operator of a well, before commencing the work of
drilling the well, shall file with the supervisor or the district
deputy an application to commence drilling. Drilling shall not
commence until approval of the application is given by the supervisor
or the district deputy. If the supervisor or the district deputy
fails to give the operator a written response to the application
within 10 working days from the date of receipt, that failure shall
be considered as an approval of the application, and the application,
for the purposes and intents of this chapter, shall be deemed a
written report of the supervisor. If operations have not commenced
within one year of receipt of the application, the application shall
be deemed canceled. The application shall contain the pertinent data
the supervisor requires on printed forms supplied by the division or
on other forms acceptable to the supervisor. The supervisor may
require other pertinent information to supplement the application.
(b) (1) On and after January 1, 2012, in addition to the pertinent
information required to be collected pursuant to subdivision (a),
the application shall include all of the following information:
(A) The type of exploration and production techniques that the
operator will use at the well or wells.
(B) A complete list of the chemicals, if any, that will
be injected the operator intends to bring
onsite for purposes of injecting into the well for hydraulic
fracturing or other production enhancement methods in the exploration
or production process or processes. This list shall include
all of the following:
(i) The name of the chemical.
(ii) The purpose of the chemical in the production or exploration
process.
(iii) The Chemical Abstract Service numbers for the chemical.
(iv) The estimated total amount of the chemical used.
(v) The actual rate or concentration of the chemical expressed as
pounds per thousand gallons or gallons per thousand gallons and
expressed as a percentage by volume of the total hydraulic fracturing
fluid or other injected fluid used.
(C) The estimated amount and source of water that will be used in
the exploration or production from the well that is being proposed to
be permitted.
(D) Any radiological components or tracers to be injected into the
well and a description of the recovery method, if any, for those
elements or tracers, the expected recovery rate and disposal method
for recovered components or tracers.
(E) The location of any known
(C) The location of any known active
seismic faults within five miles of the well.
(2) After drilling has commenced, the operator shall submit to the
supervisor all of the following information:
(A) A list of the chemicals that were injected into the well. This
list shall include all of the following information:
(i) The name of the chemical.
(ii) The purpose of the chemical in the production or exploration
process.
(iii) The Chemical Abstract Service numbers for the chemical.
(iv) The estimated total amount of the chemical used.
(v) The actual rate or concentration of each chemical used,
expressed as pounds per thousand gallons or gallons per thousand
gallons and expressed as a percentage by volume of the total
hydraulic fracturing fluid or other injected fluid used.
(B) The amount and source of water used in the exploration or
production from the well.
(C) Any radiological components or tracers injected into the well
and a description of the recovery method, if any, for those
components or tracers, the recovery rate, and disposal method for
recovered components or tracers.
(2)
(3) The supervisor shall post the type of process and
list of chemicals obtained pursuant to paragraph (1)
this subdivision on the division's Internet Web
site in such a way that it is accessible to the public.
(3)
(4) If any of the information required pursuant to
paragraph (1) this subdivision changes
over the course of the exploration and production process, the
operator shall immediately notify the supervisor.
(4)
(5) Notwithstanding any other law, if a chemical listed
in the application pursuant to subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (1) is also pursuant to this subdivision is
also listed as a chemical known to cause cancer or reproductive
toxicity pursuant to the list adopted in accordance with Section
25249.8 of the Health and Safety Code, the operator shall notify
every property owner and occupant of property within one mile of the
well that this chemical is to be , or has been, injected
into the ground.
(c) After the completion of any well, this section also applies as
far as may be, to the deepening or redrilling of the well, an
operation involving the plugging of the well, or any operations
permanently altering in any manner the casing of the well. The number
or designation of a well, and the number or designation specified
for a well in an application filed as required by this section, shall
not be changed without first obtaining a written consent of the
supervisor.
(d) If an operator fails to comply with an order of the
supervisor, the supervisor may deny approval of proposed well
operations until the operator brings its existing well operations
into compliance with the order. If an operator fails to pay a civil
penalty, remedy a violation that it is required to remedy to the
satisfaction of the supervisor pursuant to an order issued under
Section 3236.5, or to pay any charges assessed under Article 7
(commencing with Section 3400), the supervisor may deny approval to
the operator's proposed well operations until the operator pays the
civil penalty, remedies the violation to the satisfaction of the
supervisor, or pays the charges assessed under Article 7 (commencing
with Section 3400).