LOS ANGELES (AP) – An oil field owner in Los Angeles County is suing the state of California over a law that would require it to halt production and shut down its wells or face expensive taxes.
The owner of the Inglewood Oil Field Sentinel Peak contends in a lawsuit, filed this week, that the law, signed in September by Gov. Gavin Newsom is illegal, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
It was one of several laws aimed at reducing pollution by giving local governments more power to ban oil and gas operations by closing so-called idle wells, which are not being used but not properly sealed and closed, and to fine companies. to operate non-remedial oil wells in the Inglewood field.
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The 1,000-acre area southwest of downtown Los Angeles has about 820 uncovered wells, including 420 actively pumping. About 80 percent of active wells are considered low-producing, meaning they produce less than 15 barrels of oil or 60 cubic feet of gas per day, the newspaper reported.
Attorneys for Sentinel Peak argue that the law “represents an illegal attempt to force the company to stop operating its legitimate business,” according to court documents. They say mandatory fines, in particular, violate federal and state laws that prohibit excessive fines.
The suit calls the penalties “grossly” disproportionate, “without an upper limit” or “relative to any actual harm.”
The California Department of Conservation’s Geological Energy Management Division, the state’s oil and gas regulator, declined to comment on the matter.
But Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents the oil field and authored the law, vowed to protect it.
“Our community has stood strong for decades to shut down this dangerous low-yielding oil field, and we will stand strong in court to protect the communities that have always deserved the right to live a full and healthy life,” Bryan told the Times. “The people of California have said through their legislature that dangerous oil wells have no business near the community.”