AB 1420
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1420 (Salas) – As Amended April 21, 2015
SUBJECT: Oil and gas: pipelines
SUMMARY: Establishes a process for assessing the risk of leaks in gas pipelines and for
providing notification and assistance to residents affected by a leak. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires, if the local health officer or his or her designee is notified of a leak in a pipeline
that is regulated by the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), and the
local health officer determines that the leak poses a risk to public health or safety and the
response to the leak has been inadequate to protect the public health or safety, the local
health officer to:
a. Work collaboratively with DOGGR and the owner or operator of the pipeline;
b. Direct the responsible party to test, to the satisfaction of the agency overseeing the
testing, the soil, air, and water in the affected area for contamination caused by the
leak and disclose the results of the tests to the public;
c. Make a determination, based on the result of the tests, on whether the leak poses a
serious threat to the public health and safety of residents affected by the leak;
d. Provide, based on the determination, assistance to affected residents; and,
e. Direct, based on the determination, the responsible party to notify all residents
affected by the leak.
2) Requires DOGGR to prioritize the identification and testing of all pipelines under its
jurisdiction that are near sensitive areas such as residences and schools.
3) Requires the operator of the pipeline, upon the discovery of a leak from a pipeline under the
jurisdiction of DOGGR, to promptly notify DOGGR and the local health officer of the
jurisdiction in which the leak is located.
EXISTING LAW:
Under the California Health and Safety Code (HSC):
1) Requires each board of supervisors to appoint a health officer who is a county officer,
and requires the local health officer to enforce local orders and ordinances and state
statues relating to public health. (HSC § 101000, et. seq)
2) Authorizes the local health officer to take any preventive measure that may be necessary
to protect and preserve the public health from any public health hazard during any “local
emergency” within his or her jurisdiction. (HSC § 101040(a))
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Under the California Public Resources Code (PRC):
1) Requires the State Oil & Gas Supervisor (Supervisor) to supervise the drilling, operation,
maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or
abandonment of tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production, including
pipelines, as specified, that are within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent damage to life,
health, property, and natural resources. (PRC § 3106. (a))
Under the California Code of Regulations (CCR):
1) Requires the operator for a facility or group of related facilities to develop a spill
contingency plan. (CCR, Title 14, § 1722(b))
2) Requires blowouts, fires, serious accidents, and significant gas or water leaks resulting
from or associated with an oil or gas drilling or producing operation, or related facility, to
be promptly reported to the appropriate DOGGR district office. (CCR, Title 14,
§1722(i))
3) Requires pipeline operators to visually inspect all aboveground pipelines for leaks and
corrosion at least once a year (CCR, Title 14, § 1774.1. (a))
4) Authorizes the Supervisor to order such tests or inspections deemed necessary to
establish the reliability of any pipeline system. (CCR, Title 14, § 1774.1. (b))
5) Requires a mechanical integrity test to be performed on all active environmentally
sensitive pipelines (generally within 300 feet of a building) that are gathering lines, and
all urban pipelines over 4” in diameter, every two years. Exempts pipelines less than 10
years old are exempt this testing requirement. (CCR, Title 14, § 1774.1. (e))
6) Authorizes a county board of Supervisors, a city council, or another state agency to
petition the Supervisor to include other pipelines within their jurisdiction as
environmentally sensitive. (CCR, Title 14, § 1774.1. (f))
7) Requires operators to prepare a pipeline management plan for all pipelines and submit the
plan to the Supervisor upon request. (CCR, Title 14, § 1774.2. (a))
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author, "As the [oil and gas] industry continues to be a fixture
in California, the safety of workers, communities and the environment should remain a top
priority. Despite precautions taken, incidents occur in which immediate action is needed to
protect the health, safety, and environment of nearby communities…
"In early 2014, a gas leak was detected beneath the community of Arvin, California. A total of 8
families were evacuated from their homes and unable to return for several months. Affected
residents claimed to have smelled gas, and complained of nosebleeds, headaches, coughing and
dizziness. Once the leak was detected, affected residents were unclear where to get resources and
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information. This incident demonstrated a lack of clarity in the law regarding the role of all
involved entities… AB 1420 will ensure that clear guidelines exist should another similar
incident occur."
The gas leak in Arvin: According to articles in The Bakersfield Californian, on March 11, 2014,
Southern California Gas Co. (SCG) was performing routine checks for leaks on its natural gas
pipelines in Arvin, California, when its instruments detected a gas leak. SCG workers realized
the next day that the leak wasn't from their own pipelines and notified the city of Arvin, which in
turn alerted DOGGR both that it was working with SCG to determine the source of the gas and
that residents of Nelson Court in Arvin had been reporting gas odors.
According to the Department of Conservation (DOC), under which DOGGR operates, DOGGR
staff immediately met with Petro Capitol Resources (PCR), which operates the three oil and gas
leases about 200 feet east of the homes on Nelson Court, to review existing lease maps of the
operation. They found that the existing maps were faulty, and that the pipelines were actually
adjacent to the homes on Nelson Court that had been reporting the odor. PRC shut down its
pipeline on March 13th, and affected residents were evacuated. On the 17 and 18th the actual
leak was detected in a 3" gas flare pipe, and Kern County tested for flammable gases, finding
high levels of flammable gases outside the homes and levels at half of the lower explosive levels
were inside eight homes on Nelson Court. Further, Kern County and DOGGR found that the soil
was so saturated with natural gas that remediation required application of a vapor extraction
system. The Bakersfield Californian reported that some residents said they had smelled the gas
for as long as two years, and complained of nosebleeds, headaches, coughing and dizziness.
According to news articles, letters submitted to the Governor, and communication with the
author and this Committee, before and after the leak was detected, residents were confused about
where to seek resources and information and felt the response to the leak was inadequate.
Additionally, even though PRC performed initial toxicity testing of the houses on Nelson Court,
residents were distrustful of the results, and the County performed another set of tests, for which
it is still trying to recoup costs. Residents remained evacuated for over 7 months and remain
concerned about the safety of living in their own homes.
DOGGR's jurisdiction over pipelines: DOGGR oversees the drilling, operation, maintenance,
and plugging and abandonment of oil, natural gas, and geothermal wells. DOGGR has
jurisdiction over tanks and facilities that are “attendant to” oil and gas production, including
pipelines located within oil and gas fields and not subject to regulation by the California
Department of Forestry and Fire Protection-Office of State Fire Marshal. Tanks and pipelines
that are located within the lease areas of oil and gas fields, and are integrally associated with oil
and gas production, are generally “attendant to” oil and gas production and therefore under
DOGGR’s jurisdiction. In the Arvin case, according to the DOC, DOGGR is responsible for the
oversight of the pipes that leaked.
DOGGR's process for identifying and inspecting pipelines: DOGGR's regulations require
pipeline operators to visually inspect all above ground pipelines at least once per year and
authorize the Supervisor to order tests or inspections as needed to establish the reliability of any
pipeline system. Additionally, regulations require a mechanical integrity test to be performed on
all active environmentally sensitive pipelines that are used to transport crude oil or natural gas
from the production site to a central collection point, and all urban pipelines over 4” in diameter,
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every two years. Regulation exempts pipelines less than 10 years old from the two year testing
requirement.
In Arvin, even though DOGGR is responsible for the oversight of the pipeline that failed, the
pipeline is not subject to the periodic testing required of other, larger capacity (over 4" in
diameter) lines, or lines that carry hydrocarbons. DOGGR records showed that the pipeline was
last inspected on August 8, 2011. This bill requires DOGGR to prioritize the identification and
testing of all pipelines under its jurisdiction, regardless of size or what it carries, for leaks that
are near sensitive areas, such as residential areas and schools.
Leak reporting requirements: Statute and regulation have various requirements for reporting
leaks of hazardous substances and the subsequent response. For example, for oil discharges to
land greater than or equal to a barrel, the facility owner or operator must report to the Governor's
Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) (PRC § 3233); for a release or threatened release of
hazardous materials that may pose a significant threat to human health and safety, property or the
environment, the handler must report to CalOES, the local unified program agencies (CUPAs)
and/ or 911 (HSC § 25510); for illegal discharges or threatened discharges of hazardous waste,
the designated government employee must report to the local health officer or local board of
supervisors (HSC § 25180.7(b)); and, significant gas or water leaks resulting from or associated
with an oil or gas drilling or producing operation, or related facility, must be promptly reported
to the appropriate DOGGR district office (CCR, Title 14, §1722(i)).
This bill clarifies the reporting process by requiring that the operator of a pipeline under
DOGGR's jurisdiction must promptly notify the local health officer and DOGGR when he or she
detects a leak.
Leak response requirements: The Arvin incident illustrates the complexity of local and state
response to leaks, and delegated authority for response to leaks varies throughout the state.
While state agencies often work directly with local agencies to respond to and remediate leaks,
there is often not a requirement for state agencies to provide resources to the local responding
agency. AB 1173 requires the local health officer or designee to work in collaboration with
DOGGR to respond to leaks, thus bringing state resources to local efforts. Further, this bill
requires the party responsible for the leak to, under the direction on the locale health officer, test
the soil, water and air for contamination and, if the local health officer determines that the threat
poses a serious threat, to notify all residents affected by the leak. These provisions require the
responsible party to pay for testing and notification in response to a leak and serve to legitimize
testing and response by requiring the local health officer to oversee the testing process.
Double referral: This bill was double referred to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, in
which it is set for a hearing April 27, 2015.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
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Analysis Prepared by: Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965