State rejects Aera's appeal on Kern frack jobs

Aug. 23—The Newsom administration has rejected an appeal filed by Bakersfield-based oil producer Aera Energy LLC after the company's proposal to frack wells in western Kern was met with what appeared to be a new policy of denying such projects based on general concerns rather than technical considerations.

An Aug. 3 notice from the state Department of Conservation Director's Office of Appeals said Aera's 59-page petition from July 16 wrongly characterized the state's July 8 rejection as an order as defined by the state Public Resources Code. The office said it therefore lacks jurisdiction to reverse the application denials.

Aera on Monday acknowledged it had received the notice and stated it was "continuing to evaluate all of our legal options."

Meanwhile, county government plans to file a lawsuit accusing Gov. Gavin Newsom of unilaterally imposing a ban on the oilfield technique also known as hydraulic fracturing, in which sand, water and chemicals are injected underground at high pressure to break open oil and gas deposits.

A county spokeswoman indicated the planned legal action, approved Aug. 10 by a 4-1 vote of Kern's Board of Supervisors, has not yet been filed but that staff "anticipate filing in the near future."

Aera's indecision, combined with the county's inaction to date, leaves it unclear what sort of legal pushback the administration may face locally after the director of California's Geologic Energy Management Division used his discretionary authority to turn away two sets of fracking applications comprising plans for 35 wells in the North and South Belridge oil fields. (Aera's July appeal applied only to 21 wells in the two fields.)

Newsom called last fall for a legislative ban on fracking that would take effect Jan. 1, 2024. But after a more expansive bill surfaced in February and subsequently died in committee, the governor instead initiated a rule-making process aimed at imposing the same deadline.

The fate of oil permit applications in California has historically been determined according to their adherence technical standards. But rejection letters issued to Aera this summer by State Oil and Gas Supervisor Uduak-Joe Ntuk said he was denying the applications based on non-specific concerns for health, property, natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. The letters cite Ntuk's discretionary authority in such matters.