A subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corporation was fined $60,000 for discharging hydraulic fracturing fluid into an unlined sump near the city of Shafter in Kern County, after unwittingly starring in a YouTube video that tipped water board authorities to the incident.
Vintage Production California LLC reached the settlement agreement with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Board after the investigation team determined that Vintage had discharged saline water, formation fluids, and hydraulic fracturing fluid to an unlined pit for 12 days in the fall of 2012. Vintage did not possess a permit for the discharge of wastewater to land.
Those discharges posed a threat to groundwater quality, investigators determined. “The discharge of high-salinity water to unlined sumps in areas with good quality groundwater, such as at the Vintage Production site near Shafter, is not consistent with the Tulare Lake Basin Plan,” said Central Valley Water Board Executive Officer Pamela Creedon.
It is the first state action against an oil company involving hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a process which extracts oil from shale by injecting it with water and chemicals.
Vintage has agreed to cease discharging to unlined sumps in agricultural areas. The Central Valley Water Board will be reviewing a waiver granted five years ago that allows discharges of some fluids to unlined pits in the Central Valley to more specifically address oil field drilling fluid discharges, Creedon said.
Vintage Production LLC produces oil and gas from approximately 1 million acres located in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys as well as Ventura County.
“We are concerned that similar discharges may have occurred elsewhere throughout the Central Valley,” said Creedon. “Past and future drilling operations will be evaluated to ensure that operators are in compliance with Basin Plan policy.”
Written by Chris “Maven” Austin
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