Environmentalists Sue California for Approving New Oil, Gas Wells

Oil derricks at the Chevron Oil Field in Bakersfield, Calif., on Nov. 21, 2016. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

An environmental activist organization is suing California for approving more than a dozen oil and gas wells in Los Angeles and Kern counties, claiming they are harmful to health.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit that routinely uses the court system to reach its environmental goals, sued the state’s oil regulators and two energy companies Dec. 1.

The lawsuit asks the Alameda County Superior Court to vacate the recent approvals to drill the wells and prevent further approvals until more environmental reviews are done, among other actions.

“Regulators need to examine the serious threats from these wells to people’s health, our air and water, and dwindling habitat for wildlife,” said Liz Jones, an attorney at the center’s Climate Law Institute. “It’s ridiculous for them to approve these wells and pretend there won’t be serious consequences.”

The California Geologic Energy Management Division approved nine new oil and gas wells in Santa Clarita, located northeast of Los Angeles. The center has included Shadow Wolf Energy, operator of the wells, in the lawsuit.

The environmental group claims in the lawsuit (pdf) the state relied on outdated environmental reviews to approve the wells that didn’t evaluate or mention nearby residential areas or climate change.

The state department also approved another eight wells in the Elk Hills oilfield of Kern County in central California near the City of Bakersfield. The field covers about 75 square miles and has produced over 2 billion barrels of oil, making it one of the most productive locations in the United States, according to California Resources Corporation, which owns the oil field. The center is also suing Resources Elk Hills, a subsidiary of the company.

According to the lawsuit, the state approved the Elk Hills wells based on a 1997 study by the U.S. Department of Energy and Kern County.

“In both bases, the number of approved wells in the oilfields already exceeds the number originally covered in the decades-old environmental reviews, making the new well approvals invalid,” the center wrote in a press release.

The Kern County site also received a state violation notice earlier this year after a surface oil spill opened a sinkhole, according to the center.

A state Superior Court ruling in November allows Kern County to resume permitting oil field projects. The ruling ended a yearslong battle between the oil industry and a coalition of environmental and farming interests over the county’s streamlined permitting process.