An oil well in the Sespe oil field of the Los Padres National Forest, near the location of proposed hydraulic fracturing. Permits for oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing have been denied. (photo courtesy of Los Padres ForestWatch)
In early April, two federal agencies canceled drilling permits for eight new oil and gas wells that included the potentially polluting use of chemical fracking on lands in the southeastern portion of the Los Padres National Forest.
Oil exploration planned since 2013 in an area of the Sespe oil field, four miles north of Fillmore in Ventura County, will not take place, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced.
The cancellation of permits filed by Texas oil company Seneca Resources more than 10 years ago is the result of pressure from 2,000 petitioners, letters from environmental groups and the looming ban on widespread hydraulic fracturing. of the State of California. Hydraulic fracturing, or hydraulic fracturing, is a process in which water, rocks, sand and chemicals are injected into wells to stimulate oil and gas extraction.
The practice has come under public scrutiny in the Sespe region and Los Angeles County oil fields amid concerns that hundreds of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing are toxic and could seep into underground aquifers that store drinking water, or contaminate surface streams and rivers, according to state agencies and environmental groups.
“This announcement closes the chapter on a toxic and dangerous legacy of fracking in the Sespe,” said Jeff Kuyper, executive director of Los Padres ForestWatch, a group that has fought oil drilling and fracking in the forest and has helped mobilize opposition to drilling permits.
“Some of these chemicals used (for fracking) are not disclosed and those that are disclosed are known carcinogens and some cause birth defects,” Kuyper said.
In February, the state Division of Geological Energy Management (CalGEM) said in a proposed rule that it would no longer approve hydraulic fracturing permits, citing environmental concerns.
The Western States Petroleum Association said the action exceeded CalGEM’s authority and neglected years of safe hydraulic fracturing operations.
Experts say canceling the eight drilling permits is a step toward California’s goal of reducing greenhouse gases that drive climate change, which has intensified storms and wildfires and prolonged urban heat waves. By not drilling, methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is not released, said Lisa Belenky, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that has advocated for canceling the permits.
“For at least 10 years, we have been working to end fracking in California and to roll back oil and gas drilling in the state for almost 20 years,” Belenky said. “Every time you drill new oil and gas wells, the only goal is to burn them,” she said. The use of fossil fuels in power plants, factories, ships and automobiles results in emissions of smog precursors as well as GHGs (greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere.
Often, new oil wells are abandoned and become what are called orphan wells, which can continue to produce emissions, Belenky said.
New oil wells in this part of the Los Padres National Forest are particularly problematic because the activity would have been adjacent to the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, where biologists work to help breed and reestablish these large, endangered birds in the Los Padres Wilderness and West Angeles National Forests, Kuyper said.
The sanctuary is the best habitat for California condors, Californian Gymnogyps, in the state, Kuyper said. At the sanctuary, condors nest and produce chicks, which are eventually released into the wild. There are only about 200 condors in the entire state, he said.
“Since they only lay one egg every two years, any noise or heavy activity near nesting areas can potentially interrupt their basic needs,” Kuyper said. “This could affect reproduction.”
In the past, oil spills from fields have oiled young California condors, which when cultivated are the largest birds in North America, Belenky said.
California condors, here and in wilderness areas near Santa Clarita, melt when they see a shiny object and ingest it. These are often metal strips from oil wells, shards of glass or other waste. “Mylar strips are everywhere in construction. It gets into them and they could die,” Belenky said.
Oil drilling does not occur in other Southern California forests, such as Angeles, Cleveland and San Bernardino, mainly because there are no oil deposits in those areas, Kuyper said. Oil drilling, mining, or other mineral extraction is not permitted in a monument such as San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
Kuyper said the impetus behind canceling oil drilling can be applied to other regions and locations in Southern California. In this case, it took a decade of opposition.
“It’s a good lesson about the public’s ability to weigh in and help influence decisions that affect public land.” This principle applies everywhere,” he said.