Additional Information
Update of the Study of Neighborhood Air near Petroleum Sources (SNAPS) Program.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) plans to begin air monitoring within the Baldwin Hills communities near the Inglewood Oil Field (IOF) later in 2022. CARB released a draft of the Study of Neighborhood Air near Petroleum Sources (SNAPS) Community Air Monitoring Plan for Communities Surrounding the Inglewood Oil Field, which includes details regarding stationary monitoring equipment and data collection, as well as prospective mobile monitoring areas in communities surrounding the IOF.
Please submit your comments on the Draft Monitoring Plan to CARB by July 31, 2022 via email at snaps@arb.ca.gov or by phone at (279) 208-7749.
Overview of SNAPS Program
CARB is developing a project to better characterize air quality in communities near oil and gas operations. The SNAPS program includes limited-term, intensive air quality monitoring with a particular focus on production facilities. For more information about this program, please visit the CARB website, email snaps@arb.ca.gov, or call (279) 208-7749.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) Health Assessment and Environmental Justice Study for the Inglewood Oil Field.
As a required provision under the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District (CSD) and related Settlement Agreement, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) must prepare and update a Health Assessment and Environmental Justice Study (Health Assessment) for communities in the vicinity of the Inglewood Oil Field. The DPH is currently developing the scope-of-work for the next cycle of the Health Assessment, which will be initiated in Spring 2020. To define the scope of this upcoming study, the DPH is soliciting input from the Baldwin Hills CSD Community Advisory Panel (CAP), the CAP’s Health Working Group and the community through December 2019. More information about the Health Assessment process can be found on the County’s CSD website - CAP page.
Update of the County DPH Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) is preparing its five-year update to the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). The CHIP is a strategic plan for DPH and community partners to collaboratively improve community conditions and the health of all Los Angeles County residents. Each plan focuses on goals, objectives, and strategies for a target five-year period. The current cycle of the CHIP will include a component for strategies to protect public health near oil and gas operations. Selection of strategies is anticipated in October 2019 and the draft CHIP is anticipated to be released Winter 2019/2020. DPH is soliciting input from the community for consideration in development of the CHIP. Contact information and links to related background materials regarding the Community Health Improvement Plan can be found here.
Senate Bill (SB) 4 Well Stimulation Treatment Regulations
On September 20, 2013 Governor Brown signed into law SB 4 amending sections of the Public Resources Code relating to oil and gas. This bill requires the adoption of rules and regulations specific to well stimulation, including governing the construction of wells and well casings and disclosure of the composition and disposition of well stimulation fluids, and would authorize the division to allow well stimulation treatments if specific conditions are met. In November of 2013, the California Department of Conservation (DOC), Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), began the formal rulemaking process for Well Stimulation Treatment Regulations. Effective January 1, 2014, the DOC established interim regulations to govern oil and gas well stimulation treatment until DOC's proposed permanent regulations were completed and became effective. On December 30, 2014, the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved and filed the final proposed regulations on well stimulation treatments with the Office of the Secretary of State. These regulations go into effect on July 1, 2015. Read the text of the final regulationsfor SB 4 Well Stimulation Treatment Regulations.
Pursuant to SB 4, DOC prepared an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to evaluate the impacts of existing and potential future oil and gas well stimulation treatments occurring within California. Suggestions for the content and scope of the EIR were taken at five public scoping meetings around the State from December 2013 through January 2014. On January 14th, DOC, through DOGGR, published a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) titled "Analysis of Oil and Gas Well Stimulation Treatments in California." On July 1, 2015, the head of DOGGR certified the Final EIR.
Separately pursuant to Senate Bill 4 (Pavley 2013), the California Natural Resources Agency has commissioned the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) to conduct an independent scientific assessment of well stimulation treatments, including hydraulic fracturing, in California. The purpose of the report is to synthesize and assess the available scientific information associated with well completion treatments in California. The review will survey hydraulic fracturing, matrix acidizing, and acid fracturing as they are applied both onshore and offshore for oil and gas production in the state. Published information will be used to investigate the history and current application of well stimulation treatments, changes in the potential for oil and gas development in California made possible by well stimulation treatments, and evidence of environmental and public health impacts attributable to these technologies.
On January 14, 2015, CCST released Volume I of the report to the public. Volume I, which is titled "An Independent Scientific Assessment of Well Stimulation Technologies in California: Well Stimulation Technologies and their Past, Present, and Potential Future Use in California", provides the factual basis describing what well stimulation treatments (WST) are, how they are conducted in general and practiced in California, and where they have been and are being used for oil and gas production in the state. To view or download the report, please visit the California Council on Science and Technology website.
CCST’s full report will be issued in three volumes. Volumes II and III will be released in July 2015.
Additional information and documents are available on the California Department of Conservation web site.