California Air Resources Board

CARB staff responses (indicated below by "A") to questions (indicated below by "Q") pertaining to air quality related aspects of SB 1137 asked by stakeholders during the Joint CalGEM/CARB Public Workshops held on March 19 & 20, 2025. For responses to stakeholder questions directed to CalGEM staff, please see: CalGEM Responses to Workshop Questions.

1. Q: What level of jurisdiction does CARB and CalGEM have over federal land and federal mineral estate? Or private land on mineral estate, also known as split estate?

A: The state agencies must implement the statutes passed by the Legislature. The Legislature opted not to exempt federally owned and split estate properties from the requirements of SB 1137.

2. Q: For some of the air quality regulations, there are some exceptions for spills. What measures are in place to prevent loopholes?

A: SB 1137 does not allow for any such exemptions. CARB’s authority is limited instead to determining the specifications owners and operators must meet for a continuously operating emissions detection system and consulting with CalGEM, so enforcement measures are outside its rulemaking for this legislation.  

3. Q: CARB mentioned working with CalGEM and having data available on their public website. I was wondering how this would be made available or in real time? Quarterly? Weekly?

A: CARB is at the beginning stages of evaluating options on how to make data available to communities. There will be a lot of data that we will be working with, and we are exploring a number of options. CARB will be consulting with CalGEM on how to best provide this information, at what interval, and where to provide it.

4. Q: Can air sampling data from the SNAPS project be used for SB 1137?

A: No, that data is only suitable for the project for which it was gathered. The Study of Neighborhood Air near Petroleum Sources (SNAPS) data was collected off property and an unknown distance from wells and production facilities.

5. Q: The Playa del Rey oilfield is an active oilfield that is also an underground gas storage within the oilfield setting. Does SB 1137 not apply to the overlying and adjacent neighborhoods for this particular oil/gas operation?  If so why and how so?

A: Regarding the underground natural gas storage operation within the field, SB 1137 exempts underground gas storage wells and their associated production facilities since those facilities already have a continuous monitoring requirement under section 95668(h)(4)(A) of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations (CARB’s California Oil and Gas Regulation). Please see CARB’s Oil and Natural Gas Production page or email oilandgas@arb.ca.gov for more details.

Regarding the conventional oil and gas production operational segment within the same field, SB1137 requirements would apply if the oil and gas production wells or facilities are located within a health protection zone. As part of SB1137, all operators are required to submit an inventory of sensitive receptors to CalGEM.

6. Q: When are written comments on SB 1137 Implementation due? The email notification about joint workshops that was sent out by CARB on February 24, 2025, states that written comments are due April 30, 2025. The joint CalGEM/CARB presentation notes that written comments are due by March 31, 2025.  Are these two different deadlines, one for each agency's own independent process?

A: Workshop related questions need to be submitted to CalGEM and/or CARB by March 31, 2025, in order to be addressed in the FAQ that both CalGEM and CARB will post to their respective webpages. Additionally, CARB is soliciting further input on the CARB rulemaking and is giving additional time for interested parties who may not have been able to attend the workshops to submit their comments and questions. Those comments are due April 30.

7. Q: EPA standards were previously mentioned as a threshold basis. Will the Biden administration’s thresholds remain the standard? What if the new administration makes new standards and/or reduces current standards, will this standard change as well?

A: The EPA sets minimum standards, and California in response must develop a state plan that includes a regulation that is at least as stringent. CARB is currently in the process of amending its Oil and Gas Regulation. SB 1137 is separate from this process and provides an additional layer of protection for communities. There are no emissions standards being set here. SB 1137 requires operators with facilities in health protection zones to install and maintain continuously operating emissions detection systems. CARB will establish a performance standard for the continuously operating emissions detection system that operators will have to meet. What technology to use won’t be specified. For SB 1137 purposes, there would not be any impact as a result of U.S. EPA’s rulemaking. CARB is only promulgating regulations for specifications on the continuously operating emissions detection system. For emissions standards, please participate in upcoming COGR amendment workshops.

8. Q: Are the new emissions detection systems and alarms requirements only for new wells, or do they apply to all wells within the setback zones?

A: The emission detection system and alarm requirements of SB 1137 apply to all existing wells within the health protection zone. SB 1137 prohibits permitting for new wells within health protection zones.

9. Q: Has CARB published or is planning to publish a list of recommended or approved technologies to support compliance with California Senate Bill 1137, specifically regarding the continuous monitoring requirements around oil and gas operations?

A: CARB is currently evaluating commercially available monitoring technologies in parallel with the development of performance standards. We plan on releasing a draft report on commercially available monitoring technology, along with draft regulatory language for performance standards for emission detection systems, prior to our next workshop in late 2025.

CARB will not provide a specific monitoring system recommendation, rather CARB’s role under SB 1137 is to develop performance standards that set the minimum requirements that the monitoring system should consistently meet during operation.

10. Q: What about people who live close to existing wells? How will the regs apply? Only if work is being done to the well?

A: CARB’s regulation will provide performance standards for the continuously operating emissions detection systems and alarm response protocol that must be met by operators of existing oil and gas wells and production facilities within a health protection zone, whether or not work is being done to the facility. Implementing systems that comply with performance standards will better ensure leaks are quickly identified and promptly repaired, thereby minimizing emissions to the surrounding community.

11. Q: Will SB 1137 implementation coordinate with the California Oil and Gas rule updates also occurring under CARB?

A: The SB 1137 and California Oil and Gas regulatory packages are being handled separately, although both teams are in constant contact. These are different rulemakings but are intended to work together. The purpose of the Oil and Gas Regulation rulemaking is to amend California rules to make them at least as stringent as the 2024 U.S. EPA requirements, and rulemaking activity and workshops are moving forward. The proposed amendments are currently scheduled to go before CARB’s Board in October 2025.

CARB’s SB 1137 rulemaking is designed to act as an extra layer of protection for communities within 3,200 feet of an oil and gas facility. The California Oil and Gas Rule requires quarterly inspections for methane while SB 1137 requires continuously operating emission detection systems and is concerned with chemical constituents that vary by region and facility type. The proposed regulation for performance standards for the continuous emissions detection systems required by SB 1137 will go before CARB’s Board in late 2026.

12. Q: In regards to CARB consulting with Universities in Colorado and Texas, is this focus more on VOCs/methane or BTEX?

A: CARB is currently consulting with technology researchers, such as Colorado State University and the University of Texas. Our goal is to have that literature review ready with the draft proposed regulations in late 2025. In addition, CARB will have a research contract with a California university regarding VOCs and a suite of other toxics related to oil and gas wells, which may not be completed in time for this rulemaking.

13. Q: Why will it take four more years before 1137 is implemented? Why is the regulatory process so long?

A: Implementation of SB 1137 was put on hold in early 2023, pending the outcome of a referendum that obtained enough signatures to place the bill for reconsideration by voters on the November 2024 State of California general election ballot. This referendum was only withdrawn on June 27, 2024. Agencies were limited in their authority to act until SB 1137 became law as a result of the withdrawal. In September of 2024, a separate bill was enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor to amend the operator due dates given the pause in implementation caused by the referendum. In addition to the delay caused by the referendum, as a State Agency, CARB staff must follow the Administrative Procedures Act when developing a regulation.  This includes extensive public outreach and engagement to understand and put in place the complex monitoring and testing regimes to ensure public health.

14. Q: Does CARB then engage in existing wells that are abandoned wells with highly visible and tested VOC emissions overtopping a well?

A: CARB’s rulemaking activity for SB 1137 is limited to setting the standards for the continuously operating leak emissions detection system that operators and owners in the health protective zone must utilize. CARB will also act as a consultant to CalGEM for approval/denial of the leak detection and response plans submitted by operators. CARB does not have enforcement authority under SB 1137. However, other regulations at both the air district and state level have leak detection and repair requirements for facilities and enforcement authority in the event leaks are not repaired within the required time.

15. Q: Many oil and gas projects have been subject to CEQA in the past. Part of the CEQA review includes risk assessment models using site specific date (Met, PTE, etc.). Some oil and gas operations are subject to Title V reporting, which includes conducting HARP models using actual emissions data and site specific Met data. The data is approved by the local air control districts who approve the data before the model is run. Why does SB 1137 not include site specific health risk models? Instead a study using generic data that is not site specific was used as the basis of the Senate Bill. Health risk assessments should be included to demonstrate that there is or isn’t a health risk to sensitive receptors within the HPZ.

A: The 2024 Final Report provides the early work that informed SB 1137, from the Scientific Advisory Panel. The Legislature opted for health protective zones around all sensitive receptors within 3,200 feet. Agencies are limited by only being able to implement the laws that are passed by the Legislature. The only studies they can dictate for review are those relied upon for implementation of the passed legislation.   

16. Q: Why are underground storage wells excluded from SB 1137?

A: The Legislature determined this exemption and California state agencies are limited to what the Legislature has decided while drafting the regulations to implement the law. Underground gas storage wells and their associated production facilities have a continuous monitoring requirement under section 95668(h)(4)(A) of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations(CARB’s California Oil and Gas Regulation).Please see CARB’s Oil and Natural Gas Production page or email oilandgas@arb.ca.gov for more details.

CARB responses to comments received after the workshops by the April 30, 2025, deadline in CARB’s Workshop Notice.

17. Q: CARB received an email from Earthjustice, which included a 42-page comment letter, originally sent to CalGEM regarding their SB 1137 Pre-Rulemaking Discussion Draft Regulations, and a reference list that identifies 85 references and 8 previous comment letters to CalGEM. The email requested that CARB incorporate the comments, along with the prior comment letters and references into CARB’s administrative record for the development of performance standards for the emissions detection system.

A: CARB appreciates the email and letter from Earthjustice. CARB will review these comments and references as we move forward to develop performance standards for the emissions detection systems required as part of the leak detection and response plans required by SB 1137.