American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 32

State Legislative Reports

CIPA Opposes Anti-Industry Proposals
SACRAMENTO, CA.-California legislators returned from their summer recess
on Aug. 17 with a host of bills, including
several involving oil and gas issues, to resolve before the 2015 session ended Sept.
11.
P. Anthony Thomas, director of government affairs for the California Independent Petroleum Association, says several anti-industry measures were derailed
before the summer break, including a proposal to stiffen pipeline testing requirements. He says negotiations led to calls for
hydrostatic testing every 12-18 months to
be amended out of the bill.
However, he says several bills remained on the calendar that could impact
oil and gas activities. Those included
measures to change state regulatory review
schedules, reduce petroleum use by 50 percent, and require additional reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions.
Revised Regulations
Senator Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills,
authored SB 248, which required the
California Division of Oil, Gas and Geot-

32 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

hermal Resources to revise its regulations
and tighten reporting requirements, the
state's legislative website says. It prohibited using injection chemicals unless
DOGGR had complete information about
specified properties and potential groundwater impacts, the bill stated.
Among SB 248's provisions, DOGGR
would be required to:
* Establish an inspection program
for all regulatory activities;
* Modify its definition of oil sump and
prohibit disposing of water or wastewater associated with oil and gas activities into oil sumps beginning July 1,
2017;
* Update its injection well regulations,
except those already under review, by Jan.
1, 2018, and review its regulations and
rules at least every 10 years;
* Order injection wells in existence on
Dec. 31, 2017, be brought into compliance
with 2018 regulations by Jan. 1, 2020; and
* Order out-of-compliance injection
wells subject to April 2015 emergency regulations to meet the compliance schedule
or stop operating.

Thomas says that as of Aug. 27, the bill
was made into a two-year measure. If the
author decides to bring it up next years,
CIPA will oppose the bill vehemently.
"CIPA is concerned that the bill may
restrict the use of certain chemicals," he
said in August. "Once a chemical is reported, DOGGR could say a company couldn't use it. This is the number one priority bill for us to kill, stop or amend."

Greenhouse Gases
Two measures sought to expand the impacts of AB 32, the Global Solutions Act
of 2006, which requires California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels by 2020, Thomas goes on.
SB 32, sponsored by Pavley, requires
the California Air Resources Board to set
statewide GHG emission limits 40 percent
below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent
below 1990 levels by 2050, the state legislative website states. SB 350, introduced by Senator Kevin de León, D-Los
Angeles, mandated a 50 percent reduction
in motor vehicle petroleum use, a 50 percent increase in sales of renewable elec-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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