This action alert from the Sunflower Alliance reveals that a new application for exploratory oil and gas drilling in unincorporated Brentwood, in east Contra Costa County in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, is being submitted during the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic as oil prices have plummeted to below zero and dozens of oil tankers are congregated off the California coast with no place to store their oil:
When we think of the fossil fuel industry in Contra Costa County, what probably comes to mind is coal export (Richmond) or oil refining (Richmond and the rest of the county). Contra Costa County hosts four of the five Bay Area refineries that make up the second largest refining center on the West Coast. But it is also the eighth largest center of oil and gas extraction in the state, right after Santa Barbara and just before San Luis Obispo. Who knew?
This is brought forcefully home by a recent discovery. The County just reviewed a brand new application for exploratory drilling in unincorporated Brentwood—and found it good. This means that a county planner has done an environmental review of the proposal and intends to issue, pending public comment, and in the parlance of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a “negative declaration.” In other words, nothing to look at here, folks, move along: more oil drilling will have absolutely no negative impacts on public health or climate.
But wait, it gets even better. The deadline for public comment on this “neg dec” is coming up in a week—by close of business on Tuesday, May 19th.
So here we are at the height of a pandemic learning that some fast operator wants to increase oil drilling in East County. Indiana-based PowerDrive Oil and Gas Company, LLC specializes in “rejuvenating neglected California oil fields,” and has active wells going in Kern and Orange counties. (PowerDrive is also connected to global wastewater management, but that’s another story.) Now it’s got its eyes on the Old Brentwood Oil and Gas Field, which was first discovered in 1965, and whose heyday was a half century ago. It seems that PowerDrive wants to get the party started all over again, and on agricuturally-zoned land, no less.
This may not sit well with close neighbors to the proposed drilling site, who are a mere 900 or 1,100 feet away, depending on who’s counting. Or with the elementary school only a half mile away. Or the adjacent shopping centers and neighborhoods. We have learned a lot since the mid-sixties about the terrible health impacts caused by living near oil and gas development. A FracTracker literature review found these impacts include “cancer, infant mortality, depression, pneumonia, asthma, skin-related hospitalizations, and other general health symptoms.”
Proposed state legislation requiring 2,500-foot setbacks from oil and gas extraction sites, AB345, would protect “sensitive receptors such as schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, residences, hospitals, and health clinics based on health, scientific, and other data.” We truly hope the setbacks bill will be heard—and passed—in the coming legislative season. (It will need our strong support.) In the meantime, these known health impacts go wholly unmentioned in the County’s environmental review.
We urge you to read this drilling proposal for yourself and share this information with as many people as you know. Surely this network can do a better job of getting the word out than the County, which tucked its announcement on a “Public input” list inside the Department of Conservation and Development pages within its sprawling website. Here’s the opening description of the project, whose intended site lies south of Hidden Ranch Road and Old Sand Creek Road, within a predominately agricultural area:
The applicant seeks approval of a Land Use Permit to allow the establishment of a gas and oil well pad on an agriculturally zoned parcel. The project proposes to use a temporary, portable drilling rig to drill and explore for the accumulation of oil and/or gas within the Old Brentwood Oil and Gas Field. Three exploratory wells will be drilled, and if oil and/or gas is found in commercial quantities, casing will be installed and a smaller completion rig will be moved in and a permanent production well will be installed.
Exploratory drilling time is estimated to take approximately 20 days per well with continuous 24 hour per day, 7 days a week operation until completion. If commercial quantities are found, installation of a completion rig will take an additional 30 days, and the rig will operate about 12 hours per day. The proposal also includes the installation of a gas pipeline, which will run approximately 4-feet under the existing access road and will be 3-inches in diameter. The total length of this pipeline will be approximately 3,350 linear feet, though most of it will be within the city limits of Antioch.
We are just beginning to review the “Notice of Public Review and intent to Adopt a Proposed Negative Declaration.” Please watch this space for further analysis and talking points.
Here again is the proposal with information on page three about where to send comments:
https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/64854/LP19-2019-Notice-of-Public-Reviewpdf-WEB-VERSION
URGENT: REQUEST A COMMENT PERIOD EXTENSION!
Because of the shelter-in-place that began on March 17th, the lead planner in charge of the project is working reduced hours and has only been in the office every other Friday. The CEQA review indicates there are additional documents related to the proposal that can be viewed at the Department of Conservation and Development—but access is clearly limited. The comment period began on April 20th (a month into shelter-in-place restrictions) and ends on May 19th. Surely these factors are grounds for extending the public comment period.
On Tuesday, May 12th, at 9:30 at the Board of Supervisors meeting, please ask the Board to direct the Department of Conservation and Development to extend the comment period in order to enable full public engagement with this proposal during our present public health crisis. You can call in and speak for two minutes, or send in comments. From their website:
Persons who wish to address the Board during public comment . . . MAY EITHER CALL IN DURING THE MEETING BY DIALING 888-251-2949 FOLLOWED BY THE ACCESS CODE 1672589# OR MAY SUBMIT WRITTEN PUBLIC COMMENTS TO ClerkOfTheBoard@cob.cccounty.us BEFORE OR DURING THE MEETING. All written comments submitted by email will be included in the record of the meeting but will not be read aloud during the meeting.
For more information, contact: action@sunflower-alliance.org