Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells so as to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources, damage to underground oil and gas deposits from infiltrating water and other causes, loss of oil, gas, or reservoir of energy, and damage to underground and surface waters suitable for irrigation or domestic purposes by the infiltration of, or the addition of, detrimental substances. Existing law defines “wells” to mean oil or gas wells or other wells related to oil or gas production.

Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with the requirements relating to the regulation of wells is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would, until January 1, 2035, establish the Gravity-Based Energy Storage Well Pilot Program and would authorize the supervisor to authorize the conversion of not more than 250 wells for use as gravity-based energy storage wells, as defined, to evaluate their use, including the establishment of appropriate operating conditions and physical parameters to safely generate energy, as provided. The bill would authorize the supervisor, the State Water Resources Control Board, or an appropriate regional water quality control board, before authorizing the use of a well as a gravity-based energy storage well, to require the operator to provide certain information demonstrating the suitability of the well for use as a gravity-based energy storage well. The bill would require idle wells that are authorized for use as gravity-based energy storage wells to be identified as gravity-based energy storage wells in a plan for the management and elimination of idle wells or updates to the plan required to be filed with the supervisor. The bill would require the Geologic Energy Management Division to require mechanical integrity testing of wells before conversion to gravity-based energy storage wells and not less than annually thereafter. The bill would require an operator of a gravity-based energy storage well, in the event of a loss of mechanical integrity of the well or a leak to the environment, to notify the division, the State Air Resources Board, the appropriate regional water quality control board, and schools and community members within 3,200 feet of the well and to cease operation until the mechanical integrity is restored or to plug and abandon the well, as provided. The bill would require gravity-based energy storage wells to be continuously monitored for leaks. The bill would require operators of gravity-based energy storage wells to annually report to the division certain information regarding their operation of the gravity-based energy storage wells. The bill would specify that the authorization for wells to be used as gravity-based energy storage wells ends at the termination of the pilot program. The bill would, by January 1, 2033, require the division, in consultation with certain entities, to evaluate the pilot program and make recommendations to the Legislature for a framework to implement an ongoing Gravity-Based Energy Storage Well Program to regulate the operation of gravity-based energy storage wells, as provided. The bill would, until January 1, 2035, impose an annual charge on operators of gravity-based energy storage wells, as provided, to defray the regulatory costs incurred by the state in maintaining surveillance of those wells, ensuring that testing is conducted properly, and ensuring no damage occurs to the environment by reason of the conversion.