CalGEM last week sent a notice to operators that they will be issuing a supplemental assessment on October 26 to fund new hires to implement SB 1137, the 3,200-foot setback law. CalGEM’s rationale for the budget change can be found here. A copy of the notice can be found here. The division received the authority for the supplemental assessment with the passage of the budget trailer bills in August.
When SB 1137 was originally adopted in 2022, CalGEM proposed hiring 93 new staff at a cost of around $40 million over two years to implement the bill. This funding and assessment were put on hold for a year and half after CIPA qualified a referendum on SB 1137, temporarily suspending the law.
CIPA has expressed its concern with this large, unnecessary budget increase given CalGEM will be issuing FEWER permits, not more, and determining whether operations are within the health protection zone can be done almost completely electronically. New, redundant leak detection and response plans that are required by the new law have been delayed by five years.
CalGEM will post the supplemental assessment to operators’ WellStar pages on October 26, 2024. Operators will have 90 days to pay.
CIPA will continue to object to CalGEM’s bloated budget. At the Senate Budget Committee hearing in August, several members of the committee asked that CalGEM’s budget be audited.