LOS ANGELES (AP) — The owner of a Los Angeles County oil field is suing the state of California over a law that requires him to halt production and shut off his wells or face expensive fines.
Inglewood Oil Field owner Sentinel Peak argues in the lawsuit filed this week that the law, which was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, is unconstitutional, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
It was one of several laws aimed at reducing pollution by giving local governments more authority to restrict oil and gas activities by capping so-called inactive wells, which are not in use but are not properly sealed and capped. close, and to fine companies for exploiting low-yielding oil wells in the Inglewood field.
The 1,000-acre area southwest of downtown Los Angeles has about 820 unconnected wells, including 420 that are actively pumping. About 80% of operating wells are considered low-yielding, meaning they produce less than 15 barrels of oil or 60,000 cubic feet of gas per day, the newspaper reported.
Attorneys for Sentinel Peak argue that the law “represents an illegal attempt to force an individual company to cease operating its lawful business,” according to court documents. They argue that mandatory fines in particular violate federal and state laws prohibiting excessive fines.
The lawsuit calls the penalties “highly” disproportionate, with “no clear upper limit” or “relationship to actual harm.”
The Geological Energy Management Division of the California Department of Conservation, the state oil and gas regulator, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
But Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a Democrat who represents the area where the oil field is located and who authored the law, vowed to defend it.
“Our community has stood strong for decades to close this dangerous, low-producing oil field, and we will stand strong in court to protect those frontline communities who have long earned the right to live full and healthy lives.” lead,” Bryan told the Times. “The people of California have said through their legislature that dangerous oil wells have nothing to do with the community.”
