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On May 27, 2016, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) jointly released a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (“PEA”) for well stimulation treatment activities at operations on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) of offshore California.  The agencies identified and studied the environmental impacts of 43 lease areas at 23 active wells that could undergo well stimulation treatments, which includes hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).

As required under the National Environmental Policy Act, the PEA evaluated a range of potential impacts including air quality, water quality, commercial and recreational fisheries, recreation and tourism, and environmental justice.  In conducting the analysis, the agencies adopted definitions contained in California’s Senate Bill 4.  For example, well stimulation treatments “include, but are not limited to, hydraulic fracturing treatments and acid well stimulations.”Continue Reading Part the Seas: Federal Report Finds Offshore Fracking has No Significant Impact

On January 29, 2016, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”), agencies within the federal Department of the Interior (“DOI”), agreed to put a temporary moratorium on issuance of fracking permits in the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf until environmental review is conducted.  The temporary moratorium is the result of a settlement agreement between the DOI and the Center for Biological Diversity (“CBD”).  CBD sued the federal agencies in February 2015, alleging violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”), the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, and other federal statutes.  The litigation culminated in this settlement agreement.
Continue Reading No Issuance of Federal Offshore Fracking Permits Until May 2016

SB 4 did not place a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing or other well stimulation treatments.  SB 4 specifically states that so long as an operator complies with the notification and documentation requirements added to the Public Resources Code, the Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (“DOGGR”) shall allow well stimulation activities…

It was only a matter of time before a city banned hydraulic fracturing in California – a “home rule” state, where cities and localities are permitted by constitutional amendment to enact and enforce their own zoning laws as they see fit, so long as those laws stay within the bounds of state and federal constitutions.…

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