It is called underground injection, a process that brings up oil by using a rush of steam, water and chemicals from old, depleted wells. And it is getting the ‘go ahead’ from California Governor Jerry Brown, a major supporter of alternative energy.
For decades, Brown has been known as being against onshore and offshore drilling and suing oil companies. But then in 2011 he began pushing top regulators to begin easing key requirements for oil companies that wanted to tap California’s oil once again.
What happened to change Gov. Brown’s mind and cause him to fire the head of the California Department of Conservation who wrote that easing restrictions would violate environmental laws? A deep recession and an 11.1% unemployment rate.
Brown broke with the past, siding with the oil industry that had complained the rules were killing jobs in California. According to the January 29, 2012, LA Times, Brown appointed a replacement who “agreed to stop subjecting every injection to a top-to-bottom review before issuing a permit.” He also defied the federal EPA that had previously urged him to tighten up restrictions while at the same time he was getting pressure from politicians in oil-rich Kern County to ease up on the oil companies.
So as he reaffirmed his commitment to all forms of energy development, Brown has also boasted about the recently expedited permits for underground injection oil production.
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