California Bill Would Clamp Down on Dangerous Idle Oil, Gas Wells

SACRAMENTO, March 12, 2024 — Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara) introduced a bill today that would substantially increase oil companies’ requirements to plug and clean up idled oil and gas wells across the state. California currently has more than 40,000 wells that sit idle, but existing laws do little to force operators to plug these dangerous wells.

The bill is sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity. It’s backed by more than 100 public health, labor and environmental groups, who sent a letter of support for the bill to speed well cleanup and protect communities.

“This bill will keep Californians from being saddled with the toxic costs of leaky, dangerous idle wells,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “California’s crackdown on polluters has to start before oil companies try to offload their cleanup duties onto the public. Oil companies need to stop delaying and avoiding their responsibilities to plug idle wells, and this bill will make them do it.”

Assembly Bill 1866 would require operators to plug a significant portion of their existing idle wells or be subject to penalty. The largest operators will be required to plug 20% of their idle wells per year, while medium and small operators must plug 15% and 10% per year, respectively. The law would also eliminate the option to pay an idle well fee, allowed under existing law to avoid plugging requirements.

These requirements would result in the top five operators — California Resources Corporation-Aera, Chevron, Berry Petroleum, Sentinel Peak Resources, and E&B Natural Resources Management Corp — plugging more than 4,200 idle wells in just the first year of the law’s implementation.

“AB 1866 is necessary to solve the idle oil well crisis in California. This proactive solution will protect taxpayers, create thousands of jobs, and safeguard communities,” said Assemblymember Hart. “Idle oil wells in California act as a major source of methane gas emissions, ground water contamination and air pollution. The facts are clear — this serious problem is getting worse and can’t be ignored.”

“Oil companies have relied on lack of enforcement and oversight in order to leave behind wells for taxpayers to clean up,” said Cesar Aguirre, oil and gas director at Central California Environmental Justice Network. “The state does not have enough money for cleanup, and Californians will eventually foot the bill for billionaire companies. This bill is a proactive, not reactive, solution to the exploitation of California laws by oil companies.”

According to a 2023 report from Sierra Club California, plugging all of California’s onshore oil and gas wells would cost about $23 billion. Yet the oil industry has set aside only $106 million in bonds, according to an analysis by Carbon Tracker.

Oil companies that have declared bankruptcy have walked away from their legal cleanup obligations and left taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars. As the oil industry declines, the threat that companies will weaponize the bankruptcy process to escape cleanup responsibilities will increase.

Idle wells pose a grave threat to public health, the environment and the climate. Dozens of idle wells in Kern County were discovered to be leaking methane in residential neighborhoods — some at concentrations high enough to be explosive.

By one estimate, about two-thirds of unplugged oil and gas wells in California are leaking methane — a climate super-pollutant over 80 times more climate-heating than carbon dioxide over the short term. Wells that leak methane likely also leak other dangerous air pollutants like benzene and volatile organic compounds. Idle wells can also act as pathways for contaminants to move into groundwater, especially as wells get older.

Hart’s bill will not only reduce these health and environmental threats, but also create thousands of oil industry jobs in communities transitioning away from fossil fuels. A new map from the Make Polluters Pay coalition shows more than 24,000 jobs can be created through idle well remediation operations in California.

“This bill is a win-win for workers and climate,” said Veronica Wilson, California organizer at Labor Network for Sustainability. “Oil is drying up in California, and jobs are at risk as oil executives try to line their pockets on the way out the door. This legislation would deliver thousands of jobs to workers. And we need to ensure good, safe jobs and protect communities threatened by these dangerous unplugged oil wells.”


Photo: San Ardo Oil Fields | San Ardo, California by Drew Bird Photography


The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/california-bill-would-clamp-down-on-dangerous-idle-oil-gas-wells-2024-03-12/