Sunflower Alliance v. Cal. Dept. of Conservation

BACKGROUND

A.

CalGEM oversees California’s underground injection program and, more generally, regulates oil and gas extraction in the state. (Pub. Resources Code, §§ 3000-3359; Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, §§ 1724.3-1724.13; see Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Conservation (2018) 26 Cal.App.5th 161, 165-169 (Center for Biological Diversity).) Underground injection projects are governed by federal and state law, both of which place strict limitations on the type of injection well at issue here.

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act protects the nation’s drinking water supply. (See 42 U.S.C. § 300f et seq.) Federal regulations bar injection into an aquifer unless the Environmental Protection Agency affirmatively exempts the aquifer from the Safe Drinking Water Act. (40 C.F.R. §§ 144.1(g), 146.4, 144.7(a) (2024).) The agency may only exempt an aquifer when, for specified reasons such as poor water quality, it determines the aquifer will never serve as a source of drinking water. (40 C.F.R. § 146.4(a)-(c) (2024); see also, Pub. Resources Code, § 3131, subd. (a)(2).) Aquifers containing significant quantities of oil are among those aquifers, making them eligible for…