Posted on 04/09/2013 6:32:31 AM PDT by thackney
Fracking opponents in California have won what may be their first victory in court, with a federal magistrate’s ruling that federal authorities broke the law when they leased land in Monterey and Fresno counties to oil drillers without studying the possible risks of hydraulic fracturing.
The decision, made public Sunday, will probably delay fracking on four sites leased by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 2011.
U.S. Magistrate Paul Grewal with the U.S. District Court in San Jose ruled that the bureau did not properly assess the threat that fracking could pose to water and wildlife before selling the leases, some of which lie within the Salinas River watershed. He made clear that he was not ruling on the merits of fracking itself.
“Ultimately, BLM argues that the effects of fracking on the parcels at issue are largely unknown,” Grewal wrote, in a decision dated March 31. “The court agrees. But this is precisely why proper investigation was so crucial in this case.”
The 2011 lease sale provoked an outcry from local landowners, environmentalists and Monterey County officials, who feared it could represent the start of a fracking boom. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club sued the bureau, arguing that the federal agency had not performed the kind of in-depth environmental analysis required by law.
“Their default position is, ‘Lease as much land as you can,’” said Brendan Cummings, senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s a recalcitrant agency that’s been captured by the extractive industries.”
Impact unclear
Bureau spokesman David Christy said the agency needed to study the decision before determining its next step.
“We’ll be reviewing it, so we can’t comment in any depth,” he said.
The ruling’s immediate impact on the leases in question isn’t clear. Although Grewal discussed invalidating the leases or blocking activity at each site, he said he did not want to “guess” the correct remedy. He ordered the environmental groups and the bureau to meet and come up with proposals by April 15.
Cummings said his group wanted the leases tossed out. The magistrate, he said, could also leave the leases in place but forbid any drilling at each site until the bureau had conducted a proper environmental study.
“As a practical matter, the results would be the same: no fracking on these leases for the foreseeable future,” Cummings said.
Two of the companies that won the leases – Vintage Production California and Lone Tree Energy & Associates – did not return calls seeking comment Monday. Another lease was purchased by Neil Ormond of Clovis (Fresno County), who said he bought it on behalf of a company he declined to name.
Oil and water
Fracking involves blasting a high-pressure blend of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to crack rocks, freeing the oil or natural gas trapped inside. The practice has revolutionized the fossil fuel industry in America, with oil and natural gas production soaring for the first time in decades. Critics accuse it of tainting water supplies and worsening air pollution.
So far, fracking has not taken off in California the way it has in North Dakota, Pennsylvania or Texas. But oil companies are trying the technique here, focusing their attention on the Monterey Shale. A massive rock formation that lies beneath much of the southern San Joaquin Valley and parts of the central coast, the Monterey Shale could hold 15 billion barrels of oil, making it the country’s largest oil shale “play.”
Who’s responsible?
The bureau’s September 2011 lease sale involved 2,700 acres of land. Some of the parcels lie in the dry, grass-covered hills southeast of Coalinga (Fresno County). Others sit close to the Salinas River and the San Antonio Reservoir.
Despite protests, the bureau concluded that the lease sale was unlikely to cause any environmental harm. According to Grewal’s decision, the bureau justified that conclusion by estimating that only one oil exploration well would be drilled in the entire area to be leased. The bureau also argued that assessing the safety of fracking was outside the agency’s jurisdiction. Grewal disagreed.
“Put another way, if (it’s) not within BLM’s jurisdiction, then whose?” he wrote.
Report sees economic benefits from ‘fracking’ in Monterey Shale
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/business/oil/x738927719/Report-sees-economic-benefits-from-fracking-in-Monterey-Shale
Mar 14 2013
A new study predicts that the Monterey Shale oil formation underlying much of the southern Central Valley will fuel substantial economic growth in California for years to come — assuming continued use of the controversial but effective technique known as hydraulic fracturing.
Basing some of their conclusions on the energy boom under way in North Dakota and other states, University of Southern California researchers projected that developing the Monterey will add nearly 3 million jobs and close to $25 billion in tax revenues by 2020.
There will be challenges to address along the way, from heavy demands on local roads and public services to potential water and air pollution as oil producers bring to bear technologies such as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” according to the study released this week.
The report is sure to stoke hopes that Kern County is literally sitting on a petroleum treasure trove, even as some members of the local oil industry continue to harbor doubts that the Monterey will ever yield the 15 billion barrels of oil that the federal government has estimated exist there.
“This is not the final word, but it just indicates clearly that there could be a real uptick for California,” said Jack Cox, president of The Communications Institute, a nonprofit public policy research and education nonprofit that helped USC economists and engineers with the study.
Among the report’s projections: California’s per-capita economic activity will increase by at least $10,000 over the next seven years thanks to the oil production in the Monterey. That’s 14 percent more gross domestic product per person than would exist without work in the Monterey.
Developing the Monterey — a deep and geologically diverse “source rock” thought to be the largest deposit of its kind in the country — would also greatly reduce California’s heavy reliance on imported oil, the report says.
A nation rich in resources that refuses to use them.
I suppose if California voters knew the facts they would overwhelmingly support fracking, but TBTB don’t give a damn what they support.
Paul S. Grewal is a magistrate judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed in December 2010 to succeed Patrica Trumbull. He will serve until 2018, when his appointment will be reevaluated by a panel of judges
University of Chicago 1996.
Matthew 25:25-26 “And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant...”
When the other 47 states in the Continental US solve their budget and other economic problems by embracing energy independence, they need to be sure to put the screws to CA and sell fuel and energy to the CA market at a greatly inflated rate. If California doesn’t want to use her own resources, she can pay through the noses to use the resources of others.
The only way this makes sense is if this is the first time fracking is to be used.
Fracking has been used all over the frigging place, what’s to study? The amount of the bribe, I mean consulting fee, to get this through?
As for the fracing, CA requires complete disclosure on fracing fluids.
Thank you for spelling the short form correctly (frac).
Dear Serfs: stay out of California. Love and kisses, California Country Club Democrats
Or should I say, "How predicted"?
Mr. thackney
You are without question the go to man on oil and gas at FR. Your posts obviously demonstrate an understanding of decline curves and the D&C pace required to maintain production rate.
Have you checked out the public data on the Monterey? It’s sparse compared to the Bakken, but the curve might not be as steep in the area of good wells.
What’s been released to the public shows that batch of decent wells is pretty limited to the current Cal conventional reservoirs oilpatch.
I’ve not laoded that data into analysis tools yet, just given it a cursory peek, but it looks like 1 of every 2 wells around Bakersfield are decent and the wells deliniating the play are dogs, 1 of 10 or 20 economical, assuming $8-10MM D&C cost.
Any thoughts? I’m not investing or promoting, just curious.
I think the Monterey is getting alot of press, but not alot of hard data to back up the technically recoverale reserves.
Do you have a link to the well data?
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