Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources. Existing law requires the operator of a well to file a written notice of intention to commence drilling with, and prohibits any drilling until approval is given by, the supervisor or district deputy. Existing law authorizes the supervisor to require other pertinent information to supplement the notice. Existing law requires the owner of any well to file with the supervisor a monthly statement that provides certain information relating to the well, as provided. Existing law requires an operator proposing to perform a well stimulation treatment to apply to the supervisor or district deputy for a permit to perform the well stimulation treatment and imposes other requirements and conditions on the use of well stimulation treatments. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with this and other requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor.
This bill would prohibit, commencing January 1, 2023, the division from approving any notice of intention within a health protection zone, as defined, except for reasons related to preventing or responding to a threat to public health, safety, or the environment, complying with a court order, or to plug and abandon or reabandon a well, as provided. The bill would also explicitly authorize the division to approve notices of intention to public and private entities who own, purchase, or lease land containing idle-deserted or previously plugged and abandoned wells for the purposes of those public and private entities plugging and abandoning, or replugging and abandoning, those oil and gas wells so development of nonfossil fuel production and injection and related uses can proceed, as provided. The bill would require an operator who submits a notice of intention, except for certain notices of intention, to also submit either a sensitive receptor inventory and map of the area within the 3,200 feet radius of the wellhead or proposed wellhead location to the division, or  a statement certifying that the operator has confirmed that there are no sensitive receptors, as defined, located within 3,200-foot of the wellhead location, as provided. If a notice of intention is approved pursuant to compliance with a court order, the bill would require the operator of the oil or gas well to provide an individual indemnity bond sufficient to pay the full cost of properly plugging and abandoning the operator's well or wells, and decommissioning any attendant production facilities in the health protection zone, as provided.
Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would require all oil or gas production facilities or wells with a wellhead within a health protection zone to comply with specified health, safety, and environmental requirements, as provided. These health, safety, and environmental requirements would, among other things, require compliance with requirements related to applicable permits, public notice, sound levels, light generation, migration of dust and particulates beyond property boundaries, emissions and vapor venting, and chemical analyses of produced waters. The bill would also require all operators with a production facility or well with a wellhead in a health protection zone to submit a leak detection and response plan, as provided, to the division by January 1, 2025, require division approval or notice of deficiency by January 1, 2026, and require implementation of the plan by January 1, 2027. The bill would require the division to hold public workshops related to the leak detection and response plans, as provided, operators to review and update their plans at least once every 5 years, subject to division approval, and the supervisor to notify the applicable legislative budget and policy committees about these leak detection and response plans, as provided. The bill would require operators to contact property owners and tenants before commencing work that requires a notice of intention, and would also require operators to comply with water sampling requirements, as provided. The bill would require every operator to submit a sensitive receptor inventory and map to the division by July 1, 2023, and provide updates to the inventory and map annually thereafter, as provided, and require the division to make all current sensitive receptor inventories and maps publicly available on its internet website. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, require operators with a wellhead or other production facility in a health protection zone to provide information to the division, as provided, and require the division to make this information publicly available on its internet website.
Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would exempt from its provisions underground gas storage wells and attendant production facilities.
The bill would require the division, on or before July 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to provide a legislative report to the applicable budget and policy committees regarding the implementation of health protection zones, as provided. The bill would authorize the division, the State Air Resources Board, and the State Water Resources Control Board to prescribe, adopt, and enforce any emergency regulations as necessary to implement, administer, and enforce these duties, as provided. The bill would require the State Air Resources Board, relevant local air districts, the State Water Resources Control Board, and relevant local water quality control boards, by June 1, 2023, to enter into memoranda of understanding with the division to clearly delineate respective responsibilities for the implementation and enforcement of health protection zones. By imposing requirements on local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Statutes affected:
SB1137: 68117 GOV
02/16/22 - Introduced: 68117 GOV
03/08/22 - Amended Senate: 6024 PEN, 68117 GOV
08/24/22 - Amended Assembly: 6024 PEN
SB 1137: 68117 GOV