Eleven oil wells in Santa Barbara County are among hundreds failing to comply with federal safe drinking water laws because of an administrative mess within the state’s Division of Oil, Gas, & Geothermal Resources (DOGGR).
Injection wells pump 13 or more gallons of wastewater — toxic and sometimes radioactive — back into the ground for every gallon of oil they pump out. Wells drilling in aquifers containing water for drinking or irrigation are required to file a lengthy exemption form with DOGGR, but a widespread administrative mishap botched the oversight process, state officials confirmed this week. Two of the 11 wells in Santa Barbara may turn out to be exempt after further review.
The county disposal wells in question are located in Lompoc, Casmalia, and Cat Canyon Oil fields. As far as he knew, said Kevin Drude, the county’s Energy Division director, injection wells in the county aren’t drilling into a potable water supply, but he is going to meet with DOGGR representatives next week to discuss this further. “I want to find out what exactly we need to be aware of here, if anything,” Drude said, adding that DOGGR has been sharing information with his office for some time.
Steve Bohlen, who was appointed to head DOGGR last summer, said the state water board continues to work with DOGGR to identify injection wells pumping into aquifers that might not be exempt. “The Water Board’s specific task is to identify nearby water wells and evaluate their vulnerability,” he said. “It is looking at regions of the state with injection wells that pose a high risk to usable ground water resources, including Santa Barbara County.”
As California continues several years into a drought, environmentalists are crying foul, calling on the state to act quickly. In 2011, an audit found that DOGGR was too lenient in the water it considered clean enough to protect, among other deficiencies.
The extent to which these injection wells are contaminating the water supply statewide remains to be seen, and state regulators have recently scurried to comply with federal stipulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which required that the state regulators draft a plan to remedy the problem.
Last week, DOGGR sent a letter to the EPA promising to adhere to a plan to bring the regulations back into compliance with federal law. They have until 2017 to fix the permit system, otherwise the disposal wells will be shut down. Last summer, 11 wells in Kern County were shut down after it came to light that they were within a short distance of about 100 water wells.
California has more than 50,000 injection wells. Of the 2,500 wells that were recently permitted, 532 are water disposal wells. Based on preliminary testing of nine wells, state officials said there is no indication that drinking water was contaminated.
Hollin Kretzmann, spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit leading the charge on this issue, said, “This is an ongoing crisis … . The state has been unable to keep track of what water needs to be protected, what the exemptions are, where they apply,” he said. “They are scrambling to put these together, but that’s inexcusable.”
Comments
Excerpts from a LAT article about well-testing (in Kern county/California) that was roundly disputed during the Measure P debate.
--- The federal Environmental Protection Agency called the state's errors "shocking." The agency's regional director said that California's oil field waste water injection program has been mismanaged and does not comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
--- The data publicly reveal, for the first time, the components of oil production fluids that companies dispose of by pumping them into underground waste wells. Those wells are now the subject of federal and state review: The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources recently conceded that for decades it erred by allowing oil companies to dispose of drilling waste water through more than 170 disposal wells bored into aquifers that contained water classified as clean by federal law.
--- Timothy Krantz, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Redlands, said that when he initially saw the levels of benzene in the test results he thought there was a reporting error. "They are just phenomenal numbers," he said.
The article is NOT well written. It is not clear where many of the discussed wells are. There is no indication of the date of the report that includes the 700 times normal level and which wells are involved. Really bad reporting. But it appears to be relevant to the reporting in the OP.
http://www.latimes.com/local/californ...
tabatha (anonymous profile)
February 13, 2015 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tabatha – I hope you are not terribly surprised by the revelation of our water supply being poisoned by reckless oil extraction. I think, as you made clear in several posts, that it was clear to any informed and objective observer that aggressive petrochemical extraction had this collateral result was a significant possibility with little contingency. Clearly the arguments against measure P were inspired by some combination of incompetence and greed. Sit back and wait for the lame bleats to the contrary.
hodgmo (anonymous profile)
February 13, 2015 at 10:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I only pray that The Independent doesn't come to deeply regret undermining Measure P -- which would have prevented the big increases in dangerous underground wasterwater injection.
I fear this on-going problem is just going to get worse. Once polluted, there is no way to clean an aquifer...
jdiggs (anonymous profile)
February 14, 2015 at 8:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Measure P would not have regulated this situation. Measure P would only have regulated wells producing oil and gas through the development permits approved by the County. The wells in question are injection wells, which were not addressed by Measure P and are under the State's jurisdiction.
discoboy (anonymous profile)
February 17, 2015 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)