Status of Local & State regulation and legislation
State Bills IntroducedSB 4 "The Pavley Bill" was signed by Gov. Brown on Sept 20. What now? Some provisions go into effect on January 1, 2014 - no one quite knows that they will actually look like or what operators will experience on the ground. Other aspects have until 2015 to be worked out. DOGGR will have to work out a lot of it, and local groundwater agencies will play a role in monitoring groundwater before, during and after well stimulation. stay tuned.
Question: how does SB 4 affect a local governments ability to ban or restrict well stimulation practices? 
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County RegulationsCurrently VC has no fracking regulations and does not track the process.
** First CUP in county that bans fracking was approved by County Planning. Mirada Petroleum is not allowed to frack the new wells that will be allowed within the CUP they hold for fields in the Upper Ojai area near Thomas Aquinas college. But Mirada is still allowed to use other well stimulation techniques. Following a hearing on April 9th the Board was advised by County Counsel that while they may not be able to place a moratorium on fracking, they can use the existing land use the permitting process and their powers to govern surface activity to monitor and control where and when fracking occurs. The Board will have to put the issue on a future agenda as an "action" item if they plan to make changes to the conditional use permit process. Currently County Planning handles the permitting for the oil and gas industry. They determine whether or not a project requires an environmental review under CEQA or can bypass that step and receive a negative declaration. |
Div of Oil & Gas RegsRecently DOGGR said that by "early fall" the formal regs would be released, but now we are in early fall and the new word is they are not sure about when the regs will be done or available for review. (sept 11, 2013)
Current information on permitting of oil and gas wells through DOGGR. *fracking is not specifically permitted, monitored or tra Currently (April 2013) the State of California does not have any fracking specific regulations "on the books" and it does not track or require disclosure of any part of the process. The Oil & Gas Industry has been regulated for 100 years by the Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources. Today it is part of the California Department of Conservation. The Division - as it is called by staff- is known to the public as DOGGR (Dog-er). VC has a local office located at 100 S. Hill Street, on the first floor. Phone: 805-654-4761 Bruce Hesson is the District Deputy Tim Kustic is the State Oil & Gas Supervisor Marc Nechodom is the head of the Department of Conservation Click here to view videos of the workshop in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Status of State Fracking Regs: April 2013 - The discussion draft regulations on fracking are being ciruculated. DOGGR is holding the final workshops. Friday, April 19th noon to 8pm in Santa Barbara, at the University Club. Then one in Monterey. | ||
Other Oil & Gas regulatory issues
Coming Soon