
By Daniel Rivera, Reporter
On Aug. 10, Synergy Oil and Gas Field was the target of environmental protests by the Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, and their allies outside the company’s Studebaker Road headquarters in response to news that the company’s new gas and oils wells do not adhere to AB 1137 — a state law that forbid new wells near residential areas.
“CalGEM (Grologic Energy Management division) decided to approve dozens of new oil drilling permits in the hours following that news, and they are still refusing to rescind those permits,” Andrea Vegas said during the rally. According to data available from the Department of Conservation, in 2024, all new wells that have been approved belong to Synergy. Thirteen of the 30 new wells have had their permits rescinded.
AB-1137 was originally pushed forward in 2022, however, due to a referendum backed by the oil industry, the law was suspended as it was challenged. That referendum was withdrawn the following year after failing to win public support. After 2022, the number of approved wells (new) dwindled, from about 150 wells in 2020, 57 in 2021, and 30 in 2022, down to only 21 in 2023 and 38 in 2024 according to the department’s information dashboard.
This is another shot fired in the battle between environmentalists and regulators, the latter of which has been a revolving door of management, conflicts of interest, nepotism and a continuing battle on enforcement and jurisdiction.
The California Department of Conservation, or CalGEM, has been at the center of a handful of recent controversies, including resignations and conflicts of interest.
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom ousted the former director of CalGEM (Formerly DOGGR) Ken Harris after the issuence of permits for new wells doubled. In 2020, top oil regulator Jason Marshall stepped down following controversies over oil permits that critics have called “risky,” and allegedly not properly reviewed by regulators. He would go on to work at CRC, a top Californian oil company.
In January 2023, Uduak-Joe Ntuk resigned to focus on his family life. However, in a recent lawsuit, he alleges that he was fired for not upholding the AB 1137 while it was in the limbo of the referendum.
And lastly, on Sept. 1, current DOC director David Shabazian will retire after an ongoing controversy regarding his relationship with Jason Marshall, who he worked with for over 25 years.
The announcement came after a merger between two of the state’s largest oil companies, Aero and CRC, would not have to pay the bond on wells. CRC has Marshall on the board.
In a letter by the California Department of Conservation, they explain that the Orphan Wells Act makes “no mention of stock transfers,” explaining that the operators haven’t changed but rather the owners of the stock.
“This proposal allocates 32 out of 500 acres for restoration while leaving the remainder for destruction by dredging, bulldozing, and flooding them with salt water for oil access,” said Paulo Panaligan with the Sierra Club. The fracking process includes pumping the ground with large amounts of seawater and other chemicals to force out the oil, which can seep into surrounding water sources and contaminate them in the process.
“We wanted to call it out, because its tribal lands, critical environment, and it’s very close to communities, people work out just across the street,” Panaligan told Random Lengths News. The oil industry is the largest polluter, and the transition away might be necessary to safeguard the environment. We were at a similar point in history before, when petroleum replaced whaling as a source of various industrial fluids. This change saved the whales, and possibly large swaths of reefs because whales release nutrients in their feces as they travel.
“That’s why there are such things as contradictions,” said Charles Moore, with Los Cerritos Wetlands Task Force during the rally when talking about the history of oil. It saved the whales because petroleum offered an alternative to whale oil for various fluids like hydraulic fluid. He explained that now it has become an enemy due to the threat it represents to the environment.
California used to be a top oil supplier in the United States, but in the last couple of decades, public approval for oil drilling has declined and the public has become more health-conscious of the downstream effects of drilling. More wells are due to shut down. There are more than 35,000 idle wells in California, and only about 5% are plugged per year.