The final deadline for DOGGR to implement permanent regulations on fracking under SB 4 has been extended by six months, to July 1, 2015.

The change was incorporated in a little-noticed “trailer bill” amending the state budget, passed and signed into law on June 20th by Gov. Jerry Brown, which took effect immediately.

The revised deadline avoids a potential scheduling problem for DOGGR (the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources of the California Department of Conservation.) The previous deadline for the agency to issue permanent regulations, as specified in SB4, was January 1, 2015. However, the deadline for DOGGR to file a required statewide Environmental Impact Report on well stimulation activities is July 1, 2015.

Thus DOGGR could have been obliged to issue final regulations under Senate Bill 4 several months before the completion of the EIR – with the possibility that the findings in the EIR could then have required revisions to those just-issued regulations. Setting both deadlines to the same date eliminates that potential conflict.

SB4 required DOGGR to establish temporary regulations for all well stimulation treatments including hydraulic fracturing and acidizing wells. It also establishes requirements for testing, monitoring, public notice, and permitting.