SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 9, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- A 30+ year veteran of California's oil and gas oversight agency is
resigning one week after Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker
Alliance questioned conflicts of interest in his decisions
undermining two new state well regulation laws.
"Recent actions by CalGEM to undermine two state laws banning
new oil well permits near communities and requiring adequate
bonding of oil wells are nearly unfathomable," the
groups wrote Governor Newsom last Friday. "These are not
the actions of the agency you reformed in 2019 and 2020. Instead,
they harken to the dark days of an agency controlled by a revolving
door of financial interests with oil drillers, when oil drillers'
legal and regulatory theories ruled the day."
The groups pointed to the relationship between David Shabazian, the just resigned Director of
the Department of Conservation (DOC), and Jason Marshall, who spent 28 years at DOC before
going to work for oil drillers who benefited from Shabazian's
questionable decisions.
In May, Jason Marshall joined the
driller California Resources Corporation (CRC) as Vice President of
Regulatory Affairs, apparently leveraging his old relationship
to compel Shabazian's decision not to enforce The Orphan
Well Prevention Act following CRC's acquisition of Aera. Under the
law, CRC should have been responsible for a bond of at
least $2.4 billion to meet critical
obligations for its newly acquired idle and low-producing
wells.
In addition, the groups questioned the DOC's decision to issue
permits for oil wells in the half-mile public health setback zone
between oil wells and neighborhoods within hours of when a ban on
such permits took effect because oil drillers had withdrawn a
referendum on the law creating it.
"Shabazian's sudden departure is a hopeful sign that the Newsom
Administration will not tolerate conflicts in decision making about
oil drilling and will revisit Shabazian's decision not to require
the $2.4 billion worth of bonding for
the CRC Aera merger, which leaves the public on the hook for paying
for the plugging and cleanup cost of wells," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog.
"The Governor needs to reverse the DOC decision and require
adequate bonding of CRC."
Prior to joining CRC in May, Marshall worked for Berry
Petroleum, which was recently granted 14 oil well drilling permits
by DOC.
Marshall was part of the previous 2019 shakeup of the
drilling agency following disclosures by Consumer Watchdog and
FracTracker that oil drilling supervisors owned stock in
the companies they regulated. The shakeup culminated in a
management change with the departure of Marshall, the then Chief
Deputy of the DOC in early 2020.
"David Shabazian, the current
Director of the Department of Conservation, has praised Marshall,"
the groups wrote in their letter last week. "After his resignation,
Shabazian defended him from critics and credited him for his 'many
years of dedicated service' and his 'wisdom and counsel on
important issues.'
"CalGEM's decisions to ignore The Orphan Wells Act and to issue
new permits in the half-mile public health setback zone is making a
mockery of your claim that a new CalGEM will be tough on oil
drilling. Your Administration needs to conduct an independent
investigation of how the CRC decision was made and Jason Marshall's role in CalGEM's decision
making regarding orphan wells."
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog