Protesters at the June 5 public hearing in Santa Maria. | Credit: Len Wood, Santa Maria Times

Aera Energy, one of California’s largest oil and gas produces and owned by Shell and Exxon Mobil, has submitted an aquifer exemption for the Cat Canyon oil field located about four miles east of Orcutt and six miles southwest of Santa Maria. If approved, the exemption would allow underground fluid injection into the aquifer and re-establish oil production in the area. The oil field was discovered in 1908 and was drilled for nearly 100 years before being decommissioned in the 1990s.

The underground fluid injection being proposed for the Cat Canyon aquifer is necessary for steam injection and water flooding, both methods of enhanced oil recovery that increase oil production. Proposals for 296 wells have been submitted to Santa Barbara County separately from the proposed aquifer exemption. About half of the 296 wells will be gas and oil production wells and the other half steam injection, observation, and other use wells.

On June 5, a three-hour public hearing for the aquifer exemption was held in the Veterans’ Memorial Community Center in Santa Maria for residents to voice their concerns to the State Water Resources Control Board, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, and California’s Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). According to the Santa Maria Times, well over 100 people showed up, with public opinion split but most public comments in opposition to the exemption.

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