Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium today to halt the permitting of new high-pressure steam-injection wells in California. The sudden announcement apparently caught everyone by surprise. Even the county’s Energy Division and representatives of two of the Cat Canyon applicants couldn’t comment on the moratorium’s effect on the new steam-injection projects proposed in Santa Barbara County. But by late afternoon, a spokesperson with the Department of Conservation clarified that the moratorium applies only to high-pressure steam injection projects that fracture rock; the cyclic steaming injection at the Cat Canyon projects are at less than fracturing pressure. According to Western States Petroleum, an industry organization, Cat Canyon did not require high-pressure steam injection.
The proposed wells in Cat Canyon use steam-injection, a process that passes steam, not highly pressurized water or chemicals, down a well to heat the crude to a liquid that can be pulled up through the pumps, Jim Youngson, a consultant for ERG confirmed. ERG, now renamed Terra Core, has permit applications in for 233 “thermally enhanced” wells, one of three projects undergoing intense scrutiny in the county.
According to the state DOGGR office — Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, newly renamed the Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM — the moratorium goes into effect immediately. Newsom’s action comes after high-pressure cyclic steaming caused massive surface leaks of oil in Kern County. The Cymric oil field spilled 900,000 gallons, 70 percent of which is water, more than five times the size of the Refugio spill of 140,000 gallons. The violations at the Cymric oil field have resulted in $2.7 million in fines against operator Chevron, according to the Los Angeles Times.