Oil field owner sues California over law that would end its Los Angeles-area operations

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California legislation that would force an oil field owner in Los Angeles County to halt production and plug its wells or risk expensive fines has prompted the owner to sue the state.

According to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, Sentinel Peak, the owner of Inglewood Oil Field, claims in the lawsuit filed this week that the law, which was approved by Governor Gavin Newsom in September, is unconstitutional.

It was one of a number of laws designed to lessen pollution by granting local governments more power to control oil and gas activities. These included fining companies for operating low-producing oil wells in the Inglewood field and closing so-called idle wells, which are not in use but have not been properly sealed and closed.

There are about 820 unplugged wells in the 1,000-acre area southwest of downtown Los Angeles, including 420 that are now pumping. According to the publication, almost 80% of the wells that are now in production are categorized as low-producing, which means they produce less than 15 barrels of oil or 60,000 cubic feet of gas each day.

According to court records, Sentinel Peak’s lawyers contend that the statute is an unlawful attempt to force a single company to cease conducting its lawful business. In particular, they claim that forced fines are against state and federal statutes that prohibit disproportionate fines.

According to the lawsuit, the sanctions are wildly out of scale and have no discernible upper limit or connection to any real harm.

The lawsuit was not addressed by the state oil and gas regulator, the Geological Energy Management Division of the California Department of Conservation.

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However, the law’s creator, Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents the oil field’s location, promised to defend it.

“We will stand strong in court to protect those frontline communities who have long deserved the right to live a full and healthy life. Our community has stood strong for decades to close this dangerous low-producing oil field,” Bryan told the Times. Through their legislature, the people of California expressed their opinion that hazardous oil wells should not be located adjacent to residential areas.

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