2002 ANNUAL REPORT
San Joaquin Valley

Agency Agrees to Review CEQA Well Permitting Report

The California Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources (CDOGGR) agreed to review its Kern County Well Permitting Activities report after WSPA continued to insist it failed to identify substantial regulatory gaps that would require the elaborate process of a programmatic Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The report came to conclusions about the need for an EIR without the necessary analysis to substantiate the claim, WSPA said.

WSPA was adamant in meetings with CDOGGR and the Attorney General's office that additional analyses must be completed to identify what, if any, regulatory gaps exist to merit such a complicated EIR process under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Among other actions, WSPA is working to complete an EIR for the San Joaquin Valley Habitat Conservation Plan to include mitigation requirements. Finalization of the Plan would fill one regulatory gap identified by the California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), the special interest group that raised the issue of regulatory lapses in the permitting of Kern County wells.

WSPA has hired its own consultant to assist in the analyses and has restated its commitment to support improvements in the permitting process if any substantial inadequacies are identified in the revised CDOGGR report.

WSPA, San Joaquin Valley Coalition Succeeds:
"Extreme" Air Designation Approved

By an eight to one vote, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board (SJVAPCD) took the unprecedented step of voluntarily reclassifying the region from the "severe" to the "extreme" air pollution designation. The action marked the success of a wide-ranging advocacy campaign by the Valley's Air Quality Coalition of which WSPA was a lead player.

The strategy that moved the District to support the reclassification was developed by WSPA's Production Committee and Air Strategy Group. The approach called for support from a coalition of the region's business, industrial and agricultural interests and an intense public education campaign that was successful in combatting opposition from environmental groups.

The unusual step of voluntarily requesting the worst air quality designation was made necessary when it became clear the Valley could not meet the 2005 deadline of attaining federal air quality standards under the "severe" designation. The "extreme" classification gives the region five more years to attain compliance.

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