Bill Text: CA AB1882 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Oil and gas: groundwater monitoring.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB1882 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB1882-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1882	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Williams
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Mark Stone)

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2016

   An act to amend Section 3130 of, and to add Section 3133 to, the
Public Resources Code, relating to oil and gas.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1882, as introduced, Williams. Oil and gas: groundwater
monitoring.
   Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to
supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of
wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of
tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production. Existing
law authorizes the supervisor to require a well operator to implement
a monitoring program, designed to detect releases to the soil and
water, for aboveground oil production tanks and facilities.
   The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as
Class II wells. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate
Class II wells in California is delegated to the Division of Oil,
Gas, and Geothermal Resources. Under existing regulations, a well
operator is required to obtain approval from the supervisor or a
district deputy for a subsurface injection or disposal project,
including Class II wells, or any change in a project, as provided.
   This bill would require the division to provide an opportunity and
the information necessary for the State Water Resources Control
Board and the appropriate regional water quality control board to
review, comment on, and propose additional requirements for Class II
underground injection well projects. The bill would require the state
board or the appropriate regional water quality control board to
review, comment on, and propose additional requirements it deems
necessary for those projects to ensure that the injection of fluids
will not affect the quality of water that is, or may reasonably be,
used for any beneficial use. The bill would prohibit the division
from approving those projects without written concurrence from the
state board or the appropriate regional water quality control board
and would require the written concurrence to describe the rationale
for the concurrence and explanation as to why additional requirements
were or were not required for those projects.
   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.  Section 3130 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   3130.  For purposes of this article, the following terms mean the
following:
   (a) "Beneficial use" has the same meaning as set forth in
subdivision (f) of Section 13050 of the Water Code.
   (b) "Class II well" has the same meaning as set forth in Section
144.6 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
   (c) "Exempted aquifer" has the same meaning as set forth in
Section 144.3 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations. 
   (d) "Project" means an underground injection or disposal project
that uses a Class II well.  
   (e) "Regional board" means a California regional water quality
board.  
   (d) 
    (f)  "State board" means the State Water Resources
Control Board. 
   (e) 
    (g)  "Underground Injection Control Program" means a
program covering Class II wells for which the division has received
primacy from the United States Environmental Protection Agency
pursuant to Section 1425 of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 300h-4).
  SEC. 2.  Section 3133 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   3133.  (a) The division shall provide an opportunity and the
information necessary for the state board and the appropriate
regional board to review, comment on, and propose additional
requirements, including groundwater monitoring, for a new project or
a project under review as of January 1, 2017.
   (b) The state board or the appropriate regional board shall
review, comment on, and propose additional requirements it deems
necessary, including groundwater monitoring, for a new project or a
project under review to ensure that the injection of fluids will not
affect the quality of water that is, or may reasonably be, used for
any beneficial use.
   (c) The division shall not approve a new project, approve any
modification or revision to an existing project, or finalize a
comprehensive review of an existing project without written
concurrence from the state board or the appropriate regional board
that the injection of fluids will not affect the quality of water
that is, or may reasonably be, used for any beneficial use.
   (d) If written concurrence is provided by the state board or the
appropriate regional board, the written concurrence shall describe
the rationale for concurrence and an explanation of why conditions,
such as groundwater monitoring, were or were not required for the
project at issue.