A California bill requiring oil companies to set aside funds for the capping of old wells may have an unlikely detractor: Gov. Gavin Newsom.
As flammable gases and toxic fumes seep from thousands of abandoned oil wells across California, state legislators passed a bill last month that would require owners to set aside more funding to properly seal wells once their use has ended.
At a news conference in Echo Park recently, Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, the bill’s author, framed Newsom’s decision as a litmus test of his commitment to seek accountability from oil companies. Statewide, some 5,500 wells are thought to be orphaned, meaning they don’t have a legally liable party to plug them, according to. Nearly 70,000 more are at risk of becoming orphaned wells. Experts say the public liability for that many orphaned wells is nearly $500 million.
“That means 100 years of leaks, 100 years of releases, 100 years of miscarriages, emphysema, asthma, cancer clusters,” said Sahli-Wells, now California state director for Elected Officials to Protect America, a national environmental organization composed of current and former lawmakers. “Our community has paid over and over again … and it’s time that the polluter who made the mess actually pay the bill.
Assemblymember Vince Fong, a Republican from Bakersfield, said the bill may exacerbate the issue it is trying to solve. Under the bill, new well owners would need to obtain a so-called indemnity bond, whereby they would make a partial payment for plugging the well to a surety company. If the well owner became insolvent and could not pay the full cost of sealing the well, the surety company would assume responsibility.
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