Amid sky-high gas prices, enviros press to shutter 27% of Calif. oil wells

Draft rules to curb oil wells near sensitive uses, including homes and schools, could shutter a wide swath of California’s shrinking energy production.

As state regulators finish work on a minimum buffer zone between oil and gas wells and sensitive locations like homes and schools, a key detail many will look for when the proposal comes out later this year is whether it would apply only to new drilling, or to existing production sites as well.

A draft rule the state released in October would allow wells already operating within the proposed 3,200-foot setback to continue, but only if they install monitoring equipment and vapor containment systems to make sure petroleum emissions are not risking the health of nearby residents.

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Environmental groups are pushing to extend the rule to ban all oil and gas production within the buffer zone — roughly 28,000 wells, or about 27 percent of California’s total, according to a new analysis by oil Fractracker, a group calling for tighter regulation of the industry.

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