Oil and gas: well records and testing requirements.

(1) Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells. Existing law requires an owner or operator of a well to keep, or cause to be kept, and requires the operator to file with the district deputy at specified times, a careful and accurate log, core record, and history of the drilling of the well. Existing law provides that a person who fails to comply with specific laws relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations, including failing to furnish a report or record, or rendering a false report, is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would additionally require the owner or operator to keep, or cause to be kept, a history of the maintenance and repair of the well. Because a violation of this requirement would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to order or undertake certain operations, as applicable, to be carried out on any property in the vicinity of which, or on which, is located any well or facility that the supervisor determines to be a hazardous well, an idle-deserted well, a hazardous facility, or a deserted facility, as defined. This bill, for any action ordered to be carried out, or undertaken, by the supervisor pursuant to those provisions, for the purpose of abandonment or reabandonment of a well or for the purpose of remedying, mitigating, minimizing, or eliminating danger to life, health, and natural resources, until January 1, 2025, would require the supervisor to perform specified testing, including followup testing if specified conditions are met, of any well and associated equipment being plugged and abandoned to determine the presence of atmospheric emissions of hydrocarbon pollutants before the initiation of physical work, and ensure that the results of any tests performed pursuant to these provisions are posted on the division's Internet Web site and transmitted to the State Air Resources Board as soon as reasonably possible after testing is performed. The bill would authorize the supervisor, in consultation with the state board, to develop alternative methodologies for testing undertaken pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources and the state board to jointly assemble and perform an appropriate analysis of specified information for the purposes of determining the effectiveness and appropriateness of existing and planned measures to perform research on or control emissions from idle and abandoned oil and gas wells in the state, and would require the division and the state board, on or before December 31, 2025, to make the results of the analysis available on their respective Internet Web sites. The bill would repeal all of these provisions on January 1, 2026. (3) Existing law requires the operator of any idle well to either file with the supervisor a certain annual fee or file a plan with the supervisor to provide for the management and elimination of all long-term idle wells, as specified. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with an order issued under these provisions and other requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill, for any proximity well, as defined, to be plugged and abandoned, including wells to be plugged and abandoned pursuant to an idle well management plan that is on file with the supervisor or pursuant to specified provisions, until January 1, 2025, would require the operator of the well to (A) perform specified testing, including followup testing if specified conditions are met, of any well and associated equipment being plugged and abandoned to determine the presence of atmospheric emissions of hydrocarbon pollutants before the initiation of physical work, and (B) report the results of any tests performed pursuant to these provisions to the supervisor. Because a violation of these requirements by an operator would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the supervisor to post the results received form the operator on the division's Internet Web site and transmit the results to the State Air Resources Board as soon as reasonably possible after testing is performed. The bill would authorize the supervisor, in consultation with the state board, to develop alternative methodologies for testing undertaken pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources and the state board to jointly assemble and perform an appropriate analysis of all information received by the supervisor pursuant to these provisions for the purposes of determining the effectiveness and appropriateness of existing and planned measures to perform research on or control emissions from idle and abandoned oil and gas wells in the state, and would require the division and the state board, on or before December 31, 2025, to make the results of the analysis available on their respective Internet Web sites. The bill would repeal all of these provisions on January 1, 2026. (4) 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.