Administration proposes temporary stabilization package: 2-for-1 plug-and-drill, CEQA exemption and crude-production target

Assembly leaders and state energy officials presented a multi-part Petroleum Market Stabilization Proposal at a June joint hearing that seeks to steady California’s gasoline and crude supply while the state transitions toward low‑carbon fuels. The administration said the package is intended as a temporary, mid‑transition measure to avoid short‑term supply shocks as refinery capacity declines.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) vice chair Siva Gunda and the Department of Conservation director Jennifer Lucchese told lawmakers the plan bundles four main elements: (1) codification of the state regulation prohibiting well stimulation treatments (hydraulic fracturing); (2) statutory validation of Kern County’s oil permitting ordinance and its environmental impact report; (3) a narrowly tailored, temporary CEQA exemption for some new well permits paired with a 2-for-1 plug‑and‑abandon framework requiring two wells to be sealed for every new well drilled; and (4) strengthened spill‑prevention, financial‑responsibility and pipeline safety measures. Director Lucchese said the “central objective of this proposal is to return California crude production to 125,000,000 barrels a year stabilization target.”

Why it matters: state officials…