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Mike Mills is a partner and chair of the firm’s Oil & Gas, Pipelines and Mining Industry Team.  Oil & gas, as well as mining companies, look to Mike to skillfully advise them on natural resources development issues, counsel them on federal and state hazardous waste cleanup matters, and help them successfully navigate property tax valuation disputes.

When necessary to protect his clients’ interests, Mike relies on his understanding of complex regulatory matters and his clients’ businesses to defend them in environmental litigation, defeat citizen suit claims, and reduce or eliminate fines and penalties. He has been listed in Northern California Super Lawyer® since 2013 in Environmental Law and Energy & Natural Resources.

Click here for Mike Mills' full bio.

 

The California Geologic Energy Management Division (“CalGEM”), formerly known as the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (“DOGGR”), is actively working on revising its regulations to better align its regulatory mandates with the new goals of Assembly Bill 1057, which requires CalGEM to focus on protecting public health and the environment, and less on efficient and effective oil and gas production. The scope and extent of these regulatory changes may have far-reaching consequences for the oil and gas industry in California. As part of its pre-rulemaking process, CalGEM is hosting community workshops and accepting public comments regarding its proposed regulatory changes.

I.      WHY IS CALGEM HOSTING WORKSHOPS?

While CalGEM’s materials on its pre-rulemaking process do not explain the exact nature or effect of these workshops, CalGEM’s workshops align with its new focus and November 2019 announcement of new oil and gas initiatives.  Effective January 1, 2020, Assembly Bill 1057 changed DOGGR’s name to CalGEM and updated CalGEM’s focus from development and production of petroleum resources to transitioning to a low-carbon future and protecting public health, safety and the environment.  In addition, last November CalGEM released a series of initiatives targeting certain oil and gas extraction methods, intended to safeguard public health and the environment.  The November initiatives include:

  1. Imposing a moratorium on new oil extraction wells that use high-pressure steam to break oil formations below the ground;
  2. Announcing new rules for public health and safety protections near oil and gas extraction facilities would be updated and strengthened; and
  3. Completing an independent audit of CalGEM’s permitting processes for well stimulation and underground injection control and a scientific review of pending well stimulation permits to ensure public health, safety and environmental protections are met prior to approving each permit.

These initiatives are in line with the State of California’s overall climate goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.  California intends to meet this goal, in part, by decreasing fossil fuel dependence and consumption.
Continue Reading CalGEM’s Public Health Rulemaking Workshops

Oil rig at sunsetNearly two months ago, on November 19, 2019, the Department of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources[1] (“DOGGR”) announced a moratorium on approvals of new oil extraction wells that use a high-pressure cyclic steaming process to break apart a geological formation to extract oil.

The announcement did not contain much, if any,

This information is provided as a follow-up to our blog post titled “Senate Bill 205 Imposes New Requirements for Industrial Companies in California” published on January 3, 2020.

The State Water Resources Control Board (“SWRCB”) published a new page on its website that provides implementation information for Senate Bill 205.  This page includes helpful information on Senate Bill 205, business requirements, city and county requirements, permit application information, and resources for compliance.
Continue Reading California SWRCB Launches Senate Bill 205 Compliance Page

Last fall, the California Legislature enacted Senate Bill 205 in an effort to more effectively control stormwater pollution from regulated industrial companies.  Effective January 1, 2020, an industrial company will not be able to receive an initial business license or business license renewal unless it can demonstrate compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) stormwater permit program. 
Continue Reading Senate Bill 205 Imposes New Requirements for Industrial Companies in California

After years of investigation, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Regional Board”) issued a cleanup and abatement order (“CAO”) to San Diego Gas & Electric Company (“SDG&E”) after finding that SDG&E caused or permitted waste to be discharged into the San Diego Bay, and thereby created, or threatened to create, pollution and nuisance

On April 29, 2019, the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a Draft Supplement Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS) analyzing potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing for future oil & gas development within the 400,000 acre Bakersfield Field Office Planning Area. That planning area includes Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Venture counties.

The Need for a Supplemental EIS

The Draft SEIS is the latest development in BLM’s ongoing management of oil and gas resources and supplements BLM’s 2012 Final EIS, associated with BLM’s 2014 Resources Management Plan (RMP). The 2014 RMP was challenged by the Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch (Civ. No. 2:15-cv-04378-MWF/JEM). In 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a summary judgment ruling that BLM had failed to take the required “hard look” at hydraulic fracturing. In 2017, the parties reached a settlement agreement that kept in place the 2014 RMP and required BLM to prepare a SEIS to analyze the environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing.

BLM issued the requisite Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare that Draft SEIS in August 2018. That same NOI also contemplated a possible amendment to the 2014 RMP. However, in the Draft SEIS determined that the environmental impacts of integrating hydraulic fracturing into future BLM leasing and development decision did not conflict with the earlier RMP and amendment was unnecessary.
Continue Reading Be Careful of What You Wish For – Environmental Groups Complain about the Environmental Study of Hydraulic Fracturing That They Sued BLM to do

The 2019-2020 California Legislative Session has officially reached its first deadline. February 22, 2019 marked the deadline by which bills could be introduced for the first half of the Session. Lawmakers will begin Spring Recess April 12 and reconvene April 22. The last day for bills to be passed out of the house of origin is May 31, 2019.

Below is a list of some of the key bills Stoel Rives’ Oil & Gas Team will be monitoring throughout the Legislative Session.

AB 255 (Limòn, D) and SB 834 (Jackson, D): State lands: leasing: oil and gas.

Status: Introduced January 23, 2019; referred to Committee on Natural Resources February 7, 2019.

The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act authorizes the administrator for oil spill response to offer grants to a local government with jurisdiction over or directly adjacent to waters of the state to provide oil spill response equipment to be deployed by a certified local spill response manager, as provided. This bill would provide that Native American tribes and other public entities are also eligible to receive those grants.

AB 353 (Muratsuchi, D): Oil and gas: Definitions: additive.

Status: Introduced February 4, 2019; awaiting referral.

Under current 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. Current law defines various terms for those purposes, including “additive.” This bill would make a non-substantive change to that definition.
Continue Reading Oil & Gas Related Bills Introduced in the 2019-2020 Legislative Session

On November 6, 2018, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted an amendment to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Industrial Activities (General Permit). The General Permit Amendment addresses the implementation of previously-adopted Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), the new federal Sufficiently Sensitive Methods Rule, and statewide Compliance Options. These changes take effect on July 1, 2020.
Continue Reading 2018 IGP Amendments – Everything You Need to Know

On September 24, 2018, in two separate decisions, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that coal ash wastewater that enters groundwater and eventually travels to navigable waters through the groundwater is not regulated under the Clean Water Act (“CWA,” or the “Act”).  In these decisions, the Sixth Circuit expressly disagrees with recent holdings from the Fourth and Ninth Circuits, paving the way for potential Supreme Court review.

The CWA requires a permit for discharge of pollutants into navigable waters.  33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.  At issue in both Sixth Circuit cases is whether the CWA extends to regulate indirect discharge into a navigable water, through groundwater.  Rejecting the “hydrological connection” theory, the Sixth Circuit found that groundwater is not subject to regulation under the CWA because it is not a point source.  Therefore, the discharge of pollutants into groundwater, and subsequent travel to a navigable water, also does not fall within the scope of the CWA.Continue Reading Sixth Circuit Limits Scope of CWA, Breaking with Fourth and Ninth Circuits

Environmental groups have obtained a favorable Clean Water Act (“CWA”) ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which can be viewed as an expansion of jurisdiction for stormwater permitting for industrial sources.  In the Order, issued on August 9, 2018, Judge Stephen V. Wilson held that if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) determines that stormwater discharges “cause or contribute to violations of water quality standards,” then regulators must limit such stormwater discharges under the mandates of the CWA.  EPA is required to regulate stormwater discharges through the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permitting scheme, and does not have discretion to address the pollution through other methods.
Continue Reading Court Finds that Privately-Owned Industrial Stormwater Discharges Require Clean Water Act Permits