[The move could make it harder for landowners to sue companies
that pollute water tables. ] [[link removed]]

LATEST NEWS CALIFORNIA OIL LOBBY SEEKS TO STRIP ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTIONS FOR GROUNDWATER AMID DROUGHT  
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Aaron Cantu
July 13, 2021
Capital & Main
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_ The move could make it harder for landowners to sue companies that
pollute water tables. _

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A PROMINENT OIL AND GAS LOBBYING GROUP seeks to strip environmental
protections from groundwater sources designated by the state for
agricultural use and which may grow increasingly important to
California’s water-scarce future, according to a memo obtained
through a records request.

The proposal, which hasn’t been publicly announced, suggests
removing protections for groundwater reserves underneath 1,500 square
surface miles in western Kern County, where the upper groundwater
zone
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alone can extend down thousands of feet. That region, near communities
like McKittrick, Taft and Maricopa, is home to intensive oil
drilling. 

Under the proposed change, companies could have an easier time
maintaining petroleum-tainted water in existing open-air ponds, which
contaminate groundwater reserves
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(One barrel of produced oil results in 16 barrels
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of water tainted by petroleum.) 

This method of disposal is so toxic that the water board updated
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its permitting process to be more stringent after environmentalists
called attention to it. There are more than 900
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active, inactive, or closed ponds in California, almost all in Kern
County. Over 200 more are in the process of closing. 

The proposal could have wider implications; if successful, experts
say, it could strengthen the oil industry’s ability to lay claim to
groundwater reserves that had previously been designated for farm
irrigation or even drinking water. 

Amid a worsening drought
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it also highlights another California-specific way the oil industry
impacts the climate (in addition to being the top stationary emitter
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state): polluting aquifers with potential future use. Much of the
industry now disposes of wastewater by injecting it underground rather
than storing it in ponds, but even this method has been shown to
contaminate groundwater.
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“Our water quality standards are outdated and need to be
strengthened in light of the region’s water crisis — groundwater
that they didn’t think to protect half a century ago will
nonetheless be critical to California’s future.”

~ Hollin Kretzmann, senior attorney with the Center for Biological
Diversity

Though they’re surrounded by oil wells, the groundwater reserves at
issue are potentially tapped for agricultural operations in the
region. The proposed de-designation could additionally impact sources
of municipal drinking water, according to preliminary data collected
in the memo, though they may not be in current use because of high
levels of natural and human-induced contamination.

The memo was drafted by an environmental consulting group on behalf of
the California Independent Petroleum Association, which represents
around 500 oil operators in the state. The lobbying group spent
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more than $130,000 lobbying against regulations and climate resiliency
and transition plans in the first three months of this year.

Asked about the plan, CIPA CEO Rock Zierman claimed that a majority of
the groundwater wells his association is targeting are among those
that federal and state agencies have determined do not contain sources
of drinking water. 

In addition, Zierman said that even if the plan were to be approved,
operators would still need to get permits from the State Water Board
to continue operating existing tainted water ponds.   

Hollin Kretzmann, senior attorney with the Center for Biological
Diversity, said it was “deeply concerning” that the oil lobby was
requesting the change in a water-scarce area since droughts are likely
to worsen due to climate change.

“The industry’s claims that the water cannot be used for other
uses is self-serving and highly dubious. Moreover, our water quality
standards are outdated and need to be strengthened in light of the
region’s water crisis — groundwater that they didn’t think to
protect half a century ago will nonetheless be critical to
California’s future,” Kretzmann said. 

The memo is just the first step in a long approval process by the
Regional Water Quality Control Board, the State Water Quality Control
Board and the Office of Administrative Law. But a recent court order
directing the state board to verify groundwater usability may make it
more difficult for opponents to dismiss the proposal. 

The state water board didn’t respond to a list of questions, but in
a conversation from March, executive officer Patrick Pulupa of the
Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board expressed concern
about wastewater in ponds migrating to the valley floor.

“Some of the old ponds are too close to usable water supplies,”
Pulupa said, particularly those with agricultural uses. “That is
equally concerning to the board” as impacts on drinking water.

The memo includes a map showing dozens of wells whose water has
potential use for agriculture, and another map showing wells the state
lists as sources of drinking water. The memo doesn’t appear to
determine land ownership around the wells. The consulting firm that
drafted it, Geosyntec, said the drinking water wells inside the study
area were likely not in use, and questioned the usability of two dozen
agricultural wells. 

If the oil lobby is successful in de-designating these wells for
drinking or agricultural use, it would likely make it much more
difficult for landowners to sue companies that pollute water tables,
says one expert with knowledge of the region. 

Graham Fogg, a hydrologist at the University of California, Davis, who
reviewed the memo for Capital & Main, said he didn’t see evidence
that CIPA had comprehensively evaluated the groundwater sources.

“It’s true that in some areas down there, the groundwater quality
is poor, but sometimes that’s just the shallow part,” said Fogg.
“The groundwater system is really thick, so there may be a lot of
wells that are relatively shallow that show bad water quality but that
may only tell part of the story.”

Zierman said the memo was the first step in determining groundwater
quality and not meant to be a final analysis.

CIPA is making the proposal as part of an amendment process to change
part of the state’s Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for
Long-Term Sustainability program
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The water board initiated the program to manage rising levels of
nitrates and salts in Central Valley freshwater supplies.

The lobbying group is attempting to take advantage of a December 2020
court order that required the state water board to re-examine water
protections.

The Kern County Superior Court’s ’s order resulted from a court
case involving Valley Water Management Company, which disposes of
produced water on 163 acres near the majority-Latino community of
Buttonwillow. The company is a member of CIPA. 

In 2018, the regional water board ordered Valley Water Management
Company to close two facilities or stop discharging wastewater after
it found
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elevated oilfield contaminates in nearby groundwater supplies. In
response, the company sued the water board, claiming that protections
were too broad and thus unenforceable.

Judge David Lampe agreed that water regulators could maintain broad
default protections for water sources but would also have to
investigate and confirm whether they were suitable for drinking or
agricultural use.

In addition to being a source of potential drinking or agricultural
water, aquifers in the Tulare Lake Basin could also serve as long-term
storage facilities for water supplies as the state faces more intense
droughts in the future. Such reserves will likely grow increasingly
important
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in California; the state water board currently oversees eight aquifer
storage projects
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many of which are pilot programs and mostly located around
Sacramento.  

“In the future, in terms of places to store water, and you can argue
that water security is mostly about being able to store water for
later, the Central Valley and other major aquifer systems are key for
that,” said Fogg. “So as much as we can, we need to maintain our
ability to use those aquifer systems for storage later.”

_Copyright 2021 Capital & Main  Reprinted with permission._

_Aaron Miguel Cantú is an investigative reporter currently based in
Los Angeles._

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