California Oil and Gas Report

Regulations on hydraulic fracturing and other oil and gas well stimulation techniques were issued in final form July 1 by DOGGR as required by Senate Bill 4.

The agency also certified a statewide Environmental Impact Report on well stimulation. The EIR concludes that environmental impacts of stimulation techniques can be reduced to the level of “less than significant” if mitigation measures, including use of recycled water and enhanced well cementing, are taken.

[ Click here to download the regulations. ]

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U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl issued a temporary halt on new federal rules on hydraulic fracturing on public lands. The stay, which expires July 22, had been requested by energy industry groups and several states.

The rules, which had been set to take effect on June 24, would require companies to disclose information on chemicals used in fracking. They would also impose new rules to prevent leaks from oil and gas wells.

Still pending before Judge Skavdahl is a request for a preliminary injunction blocking the rules. A hearing on that request is not expected until mid-August, according to the IPAA.

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Mark Nechodom, the director of the California Department of Conservation, which oversees  the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), resigned Thursday in a one-paragraph letter to Resource Secretary John Laird which did not give a reason for his departure.

During his tenure, DOGGR has been criticized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for allowing oil producers to drill of oilfield wastewater disposal wells into federally protected aquifers.

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