Ojai Valley News photo by Kimberly Rivers
An active oil well in the Ventura Oil Field.
Ojai Valley News photo by Kimberly Rivers
An active oil well in the Ventura Oil Field.
Following an omission of 36 public comments at a public meeting on July 28, the Ventura County Planning Commission is meeting for a second time Aug. 18. Commissioners will again review amendments to county ordinances that, if adopted by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, will increase bond assurance dollar amounts for oil and gas operations.
The meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 18, in the Board Hearing Room at the Ventura County Government Center, Hall of Administration, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura. For more information regarding public comment options, visit https://bit.ly/3SLGCpU.
According to a staff report, “On July 29, 2022, it was discovered that 36 public comments submitted in accordance with document submission protocols were inadvertently omitted” from comments the commissioners received before the July 28 meeting. Because of that “oversight,” Ventura County Planning Director Dave Ward determined that the Commission should have a second meeting on the issue.
A total of 341 comments were received for the July 28 meeting and are part of the administrative record.
The amendments are being brought forward following direction from the Board of Supervisors at a meeting on Nov. 10, 2020, for staff to draft ordinance amendments that would limit oil and gas permits to 15 years, increase bond surety amounts, and “assure timely permanent plugging and restoration of oil and gas wells that have been idle for 15 years or more,” according to a staff presentation.
Under current ordinances, the county requires a $10,000 bond amount either per well or per field. Generally, the county has required that the amount be levied on an oil field, which may include a handful, a dozen, or hundreds of oil and gas wells.
The Ventura County Planning Commission met on July 28 and voted 3-2 to recommend an increase in the bond amounts required for local oil operations.
The Commission also recommended that the county initiate “a professional evaluation to identify and prioritize idle wells in unincorporated Ventura County that should be plugged and abandoned pursuant to state law.”
Proposed “surface restoration surety” amounts range from $100,000 for operators with four to five wells, to more than $10 million for operators with more than 401 wells. A surety value at that highest amount would cost $200,000 to $400,000 annually. According to the staff report, three operators in the county have more than 401 wells.
Staff also recommended imposing a $36,000-per-well plugging surety for active and idle wells, which would cover about a quarter of full plugging and abandonment costs.
Commission Chair Earl McPhail and Commissioner Scott Boydstun voted against the staff recommendations. McPhail was appointed to the Planning Commission by Supervisor Kelly Long for District 3, and Boydstun was appointed by Supervisor Matt LaVere for District 1, which includes the Ojai Valley and West Ventura.
According to the staff report, 8,690 wells in Ventura County are documented in state records. Of those, 4,396 are already plugged. 1,679 are active, 747 are idle, and an additional 1,520 are long-term idle for 24 months or longer.
Also, 439 oil and gas wells in the county are classified as “deserted,” which means CalGEM, the state oil and gas regulatory body, reports that the oil companies responsible for the wells have failed to respond to orders to plug and abandon the wells and pay idle well fees.
After the county Planning Commission meeting, the proposed amendments will be reviewed and voted on by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.
The staff report provided at the July 28 meeting is online with this article at
Kimberly has been reporting on a wide range of issues in Ventura County for over a decade including land use, oil and gas, government accountability, open meeting and sunshine laws, and climate change.
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