New Trends in Drilling Permit Approvals Take Shape in CA

FracTracker’s tracking of CalGEM permits identified a unique trend.

The agency’s permits significantly decreased beginning the week of October 11, 2021, a slowdown that continued for the most part—as evidenced through CalGEM’s recent weekly update of approved drilling permits. This trend is consistent only for new drilling permits of oil and gas production, and for enhanced oil recovery wells.

It does not include new drilling permits for Class II wastewater injection wells, or for gas storage wells, nor does it include permits to rework, re-drill, or to deepen existing oil and gas production, or enhanced oil recovery wells.

The cause of this regulatory slowdown is still unknown, but the timeline correlates with a California court decision to deny Kern County’s authority to issue new drilling permits. Though this provides a period of relief for Frontline communities, the continuation of rework and re-drilling permit approvals maintains existing harms.

Governor Newsom and CalGEM should stop issuing all new well drilling and rework/re-drilling permits, to reduce the existing negative health impacts in Frontline communities.

Methods

This report explores trends in California Department of Geologic Energy Management’s (CalGEM’s) oil and gas well permitting rates. Counts of CalGEM’s approved oil and gas well permits were measured and assessed, and permitting trends were identified and are reported here.

FracTracker generated permit counts and highlighted counts of specific well types and permit types with the greatest potential environmental and public health detriment.

Background

California’s oil and gas production has declined steadily since the state’s “peak oil” phase that climaxed in 1985. The production decline rate has remained steady at about seven percent per year, with small fluctuations caused by factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in the price of crude. The market price of oil has dominated control of production figures in California, rather than environmental policy or public health protections. Overall, oil production data through 2021 shows California consistently continues to produce crude oil as a major extraction state.

Similarly, since Newsom took office, the number of new drilling permits issued is comparable to the number issued under his oil-friendly predecessor, Governor Brown. The consistent production decline has not impacted permitting rates—or vice versa—as permitting for drilling new oil and gas wells have stayed consistent, and even increased since 2016. See the annual permitting rates shown in the graph in Figure 1. Many jurisdictions, including Kern County, issued over-the-counter permits for oil and gas projects—disregarding environmental justice and public health concerns.

Figure 1. Graph of well permitting counts. The graph shows the counts of new drilling permits by year.

While the current slowdown on new drilling permits is a welcome reprieve from California’s usual unabated permitting, Newsom must do more.

He should halt all new oil and gas permits and immediately address existing sources of pollution. Rework permits extend the life of existing wells and add to pollution already affecting Frontline communities. Ceasing the issuance of rework permits—particularly those close to homes, schools, and other sensitive receptors—should be a top priority, and can begin by closing the loophole in CalGEM’s draft setbacks rulemaking that allows these activities.

Finally, Newsom must tackle California’s looming idle well crisis. CalGEM data lists over 40,000 wells in California that remain idle and unplugged, and another 20,000 active oil and gas wells that are marginally producing—each extracting less than 10 Bbls of crude per month. These wells should be plugged and the drill sites remediated.