DOGGR announced plans to propose emergency regulations to bring California’s Class II Underground Injection Control (UIC) program into compliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
The new rules will codify the deadlines for the California Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) for submittal to the EPA of aquifer exemption applications for Class II wells.
ExxonMobil, which holds permits to drill off the coast of California, has asked the court for permission to intervene in a lawsuit that challenges the federal government’s authority to approve offshore drilling.
The Environmental Defense Center (EDC), a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit law firm, sued the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) of the Department of the Interior in December of 2014. The lawsuit claims the agency did not adequately consider the environmental impacts of proposed wells in the Santa Barbara Channel when it approved their development.
The Mexican Energy Opportunities Summit: Oil, Gas, Power, held April 28-30 in 
Mexico City, provided a comprehensive look at the important structural changes in the nation’s energy industry.
California Oil and Gas Report was a co-sponsor of the Summit, which explored current and future opportunities for companies in oil, gas and power, and how to maximize the opportunities made possible by the historic reforms in Mexico’s energy sector.
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors rejected a ban on hydraulic fracturing, opting instead to rely on state regulations that implement Senate Bill 4. The county is a significant producer of oil and gas.
The Board found “no evidence of an immediate threat to public health.” Supervisor Simon Salinas, whose district includes active oil and gas operations, said ‘We can’t regulate the industry county by county. I think we ought to give (the state) a chance and then monitor it.”
The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and Western Energy Alliance have sued the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), challenging BLM’s issuance of regulations related to hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands.
The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Wyoming, calls BLM’s rulemaking “a reaction to unsubstantiated concerns,” and says the administrative record lacks the factual, scientific, or engineering evidence necessary to sustain the agency’s action.
The Obama administration has proposed the nation’s first federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing.
The new rules apply only to oil and gas wells on public lands. According to the Department of Interior, that is about 100,000 wells. The large majority of fracked wells are located on private land.
“Current federal well-drilling regulations are more than 30 years old, and they simply have not kept pace with the technical complexities of today’s hydraulic fracturing operations,” said the interior secretary, Sally Jewell.
