Oil and gas production: hydraulic fracturing.

Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. The State Oil and Gas Supervisor supervises the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field regarding safety and environmental damage. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a well to keep, or cause to be kept, a careful and accurate log, core record, and history of the drilling of the well. Within 60 days after the date of cessation of drilling, rework, or abandonment operations, the owner or operator is required to file with the district deputy certain information, including the history of work performed. This bill would define "hydraulic fracturing" and require a person carrying out hydraulic fracturing on behalf of an owner or operator at a well to provide to the owner or operator a list of the chemical constituents used in the hydraulic fracturing fluid and the amount of water and hydraulic fracturing fluid recovered from the well. The bill would additionally require the history of the drilling of the well to include certain information regarding the amount and source of water used in the exploration or production from the well and the radiological components or tracers injected into the well. The bill would also require the history to include, if hydraulic fracturing was used at the well, a complete list of the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing and the amount and disposition of water and hydraulic fracturing fluid recovered from the well. The bill would require the owner or operator to submit to the supervisor information regarding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, who would be required to add this information to existing Internet maps on the division's Internet Web site and to make this information available to the public. This bill would require the State Oil and Gas Supervisor on or before January 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, to prepare and transmit to the Legislature a comprehensive report on hydraulic fracturing in the exploration and production of oil and gas resources in California.