BILL NUMBER: SB 250 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 15, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Rubio
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
An act to amend Section 3203 of add
Section 21167.11 to the Public Resources Code, relating to
oil and gas environmental quality .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 250, as amended, Rubio. Oil and gas: operations:
notice of intention to commence drilling. Environment
quality: CEQA: renewable energy project: exemption.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a
lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and
certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a
project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a
significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative
declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative
declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the
environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that
effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as
revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.
CEQA authorizes an action or proceeding to attack, review, set
aside, void, or annul acts or decisions taken by a public agency on
the grounds of noncompliance with CEQA.
This bill would provide that a program EIR or a master EIR
prepared for the siting or permitting of a renewable energy project
that qualifies as an eligible renewable energy resource under the
California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program or related
transmission projects are not subject to judicial review.
Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the operation
of oil, gas, and geothermal wells in specified districts of the
state. Existing law requires the operator of a well, before
commencing the work of drilling the well, to file with the State Oil
and Gas 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.
Existing law provides that the failure of the supervisor or the
district deputy to respond to the notice within 10 working days shall
be considered approval of the notice and the notice shall be deemed
a written report of the supervisor.
This bill would, instead, provide that the failure of the
supervisor or the district deputy to respond to the notice within 9
working days shall be considered approval of the notice.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21167.11 is added to the
Public Resources Code , to read:
21167.11. Notwithstanding other provisions of law, a master
environmental impact report prepared pursuant to Article 2
(commencing with Section 21157) or a program environmental impact
report, as defined in Section 15168 of Title 14 of the California
Code of Regulations, prepared for the siting and permitting of a
renewable energy generation facility that qualifies as an eligible
renewable energy resource pursuant to the California Renewables
Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section
399.11) of Chapter 2.5 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code) or a transmission project related to an eligible
renewable energy generation facility is not subject to judicial
review pursuant to this division.
SECTION 1. Section 3203 of the Public Resources
Code is amended to read:
3203. (a) (1) The operator of a well, before commencing the work
of drilling the well, shall file with the supervisor or the district
deputy a written notice of intention to commence drilling. Drilling
shall not commence until approval is given by the supervisor or the
district deputy. If the supervisor or the district deputy fails to
give the operator written response to the notice within nine working
days from the date of receipt, that failure shall be considered as an
approval of the notice and the notice, 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
notice, the notice shall be deemed canceled.
(2) The notice 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 notice.
(b) After the completion of a well, this section also applies as
far as may be, to the deepening or redrilling of the well, any
operation involving the plugging of the well, or any operation
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 a notice filed as required by this section, shall not
be changed without first obtaining a written consent of the
supervisor.
(c) If an operator has failed 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 has failed 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 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).