California Officials Won’t Test More Water Wells for Oil Waste

In a letter sent to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, state officials said they’ve instead asked operators of 155 illegal oil industry waste disposal wells to themselves locate at-risk water wells and test for pollution. And they have not even yet asked oil companies to test for pollutants near hundreds of other wastewater disposal wells operating in protected aquifers.

“Gov. Brown’s regulators continue giving oil companies a pass to pollute our drinking water, even as California communities face huge fines for wasting water,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. “California officials have outsourced water testing to the oil companies even as they’ve revealed that the problems are even more widespread than previously disclosed.”

Oil officials also said they have not issued shut-down orders for at least a dozen oil industry wastewater wells newly identified as fitting the state’s own criteria for being the highest risk to water wells.

State oil supervisor Steve Bohlen also admitted that more than 3,600 oil industry cyclic steam wells are injecting at pressures high enough to fracture underground rock – a practice that can create pathways for water contamination. These wells were permitted as “production wells,” but apparently don’t have permits for injection.

All oil industry injection into protected aquifers is prohibited under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, regardless of whether or not there are nearby water supply wells.

State regulators have admitted they have allowed thousands of oil industry wells to inject fluids, including wastewater, directly into protected aquifers, in clear violation of the law. These illegal injections are contaminating underground water in scores of aquifers across the state, from Monterey to Kern and Los Angeles counties (see interactive map: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/maps/highlighted_maps/enhanced_oil_recovery_wells.html ).

“Gov. Brown must stop all illegal oil industry activity now to protect our precious water,” Siegel said. “In the dry years ahead, Californians will bitterly regret that the governor has allowed this contamination to occur.”


The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 825,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Press Release: May 18, 2015
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/california-oil-waste-05-18-2015.html

Center for Biological Diversity
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/