On December 11, 2013, the DOC proposed an emergency rulemaking to implement interim provisions of SB 4.  Public Resources Code section 3161, part of SB 4, provides for an interim grace period from the permitting requirement of SB 4 until SB 4’s regulations are effective.  Section 3161 also provides for DOC’s Division of Oil, Gas

On November 15, 2013, the California Department of Conservation (“DOC”) published the notice of proposed rulemaking action regarding draft regulations for well stimulation.  These proposed regulations will implement SB 4, which Governor Brown on September 20, 2013, and will become effective on January 1, 2014.  

The draft regulations supplement the Division of Oil, Gas and

On Wednesday, November 6, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a final rule in the Federal Register amending the Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Rule.  This is required by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (“DCIA”) in order to adjust civil monetary penalties for inflation.  The DCIA sets out a four-step formula that

            Economists at California State University, Fresno recently published a study on the current and future economic impacts of oil production from the Monterey Shale Formation (MSF) in the San Joaquin Valley.  The study was commissioned by the Western State Petroleum Association and responds to the need for a greater understanding of the petroleum industry’s