Emergency Rules For Oil and Gas Injection Wells
The California Department of Conservation (“DOC”) will file an Emergency Regulatory Action with the State Office of Administrative Law on April 9, 2015 establishing emergency rules to regulate underground oil and gas injection wells to address concerns that many of the injection wells were contaminating drinking water aquifers. The April 9th filing sets up an April 30th enforcement date. The rule-making also sets a schedule that the federal EPA the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, and the State Water Resources Control Board have established to eliminate all injection into non-exempt aquifers and ensure California oil and gas activities are compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act. Under the regulations, the deadline to stop injecting into aquifers that do not naturally contain oil reservoirs and with water quality of less than 3,000 milligrams per liter/total dissolved solids is Oct. 15, or sooner if it appears that water supplies are “possibly threatened.” Injection into other non-exempt aquifers with water quality of less than 10,000 TDS must cease by Feb. 15, 2017. Injection into 11 other specified aquifers with unclear exemption status must cease by Dec. 31, 2016, if the EPA determines they should remain exempt. Injection can continue if the state applies for and receives an aquifer exemption from the EPA.
In 2011, DOGGR raised concerns about underground injection, after the discovery that some injection was occurring into aquifers that had not been previously approved by the EPA.
The Notice of Proposed Emergency Rulemaking Action and the Text of the Proposed Emergency Regulations can be found HERE.