Hazardous waste: wells.

(1) Existing law, part of the hazardous waste control law, prohibits a person from discharging hazardous waste into an injection well unless certain conditions are met with regard to the location of the well and obtaining a hazardous waste facilities permit. Existing law also imposes other requirements upon the operator of an injection well and defines the term "injection well" for these purposes as excluding wells regulated by the Division of Oil and Gas, pursuant to specified federal regulations. A violation of the hazardous waste control law is a crime. This bill would delete that exclusion of those regulated wells from the definition of "injection well," thereby subjecting those wells to the requirements imposed upon injection wells. The bill would also require a generator of produced water to test the produced water in order to determine whether it is hazardous waste within the meaning of specified provisions. Since a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires an operator of a class II commercial wastewater disposal well who engages in the drilling, redrilling, or deepening of, or any operation altering the casing of, the well, or in maintaining or abandoning the well or attendant facilities, to file with the State Oil and Gas Supervisor an indemnity bond in a specified amount. Existing law defines the term class II commercial wastewater disposal well for this purpose as a well that, among other things, is used to dispose of oilfield wastewater. This bill would specify that, for this purpose, oilfield wastewater does not include hazardous waste. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.