AB 1328: Oil and gas: water quality.

Under existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards (regional boards) are the principal state agencies with primary authority over water quality matters. The act authorizes a regional board to investigate the quality of state waters, and grants to a regional board certain authority in connection with those investigative functions, including the authority, in connection with the discharge or suspected discharge of waste by a person or entity, as specified, to require that the person or entity furnish technical or monitoring program reports to the regional board. The act provides certain protections for trade secrets that are disclosed to the regional board, upon request by the person or entity. The act authorizes the state board to carry out the above provisions if, after consulting with the appropriate regional board, the state board determines that it will not duplicate the efforts of the regional board. The act declares that a person failing or refusing to furnish technical or monitoring program reports, or falsifying any information set forth in those reports, is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be civilly liable in accordance with certain provisions of law.

Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. Existing law requires the owner of any well to file with the State Oil and Gas Supervisor a monthly statement that provides certain information relating to the well, including the amount of water produced from each well, the disposition of the water produced from an oil or gas field, the amount of fluid injected into a well used for enhanced recovery, and information relating to wastewater disposal.

This bill would provide that, in conducting an investigation of the quality of state waters that includes collection of information about discharge of wastewater produced from an oil or gas field, a regional board or the state board may also require the person or entity, or its supplier, as specified, to furnish information to that board relating to all chemicals in the discharged wastewater. The bill would provide for the trade secret protections described above to apply to information disclosed pursuant to this requirement, when requested by a person or entity, or a supplier. The bill would require the information collected pursuant to this requirement to be made available to the public on the Internet Web site of the regional board or the state board. The bill would authorize a regional board or the state board, in collecting the above-described information, to consult with the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources regarding information collected by the division, pursuant to other disclosure requirements, that may be useful to the investigation. Because a violation of a requirement to disclose information to the state board or the appropriate regional board under these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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.