California Regulators Sued Over Plan To Turn Aquifer Into Permanent Oil Waste Dump
California regulators are facing a lawsuit over their plans to turn an underground aquifer in the Price Canyon area of San Luis Obispo County into a permanent disposal site for oilfield wastewater and other potentially dangerous fluids.
In August 2015, oil giant Freeport-McMoRan submitted an application to California’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) for state approval of its plan to exempt an aquifer in the Arroyo Grande Oil Field from federal protections so that the company could move forward with plans to drill hundreds of new wells in the area.
In turn, this past February, DOGGR officially submitted an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to have the aquifer exempted from protections under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
This is the first attempt by DOGGR officials to seek an aquifer exemption following the revelation last year that they had improperly permitted oil companies to dump toxic waste into protected underground water supplies via thousands of wastewater injection wells in violation of both federal and state laws. DOGGR announced earlier this year that it planned to seek exemptions for as many as 60 aquifers.
http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/08/10/california-regulators-sued-over-plan-turn-aquifer-permanent-oil-waste-dump
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