Benjamin Jacob Hungness was born August 16, 1981, in Harvey, Illinois, to Erling and Kathryn Hungness. Preceded in death by his beloved Sara Guffey and best friend, Mike McNery.

Benjamin is survived by his children, Indica, Azmadeaus and Tilly; many grandchildren; his parents, his siblings, David Hungness (JoAnn), Christina Hoeffel, Stephen Hungness (Jane), Scott Wasinski (Kristen), Michael Hungness (Amber) and Trinity Willette (Bill); and many beloved aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, extended family members and friends whose lives he forever changed.

Benjamin made it his life’s work to explore and his adventures brought him to Humboldt County in 2002 where he did what came naturally to him — he built community. Benjamin had an extraordinary gift for bringing people together. He made friends wherever he went, and often those friendships became family.

To his three children, he was simply “Papa.” Being their father was one of the greatest joys and proudest roles of his life.

Benjamin was known by many names. To his best friend, Faith Robb, he was affectionately “Beba,” a nickname that reflected years of unwavering loyalty, laughter, trust and love. To countless others, he was “Benjamin the Badass” — a name that perfectly captured the fearless, generous and fiercely loyal way he lived.

Benjamin showed up. He didn’t just tell people he cared. He proved it through his actions. His kindness wasn’t performative — it was simply who he was.

He loved to laugh, tell stories, make people smile and encourage those around him to experience more of life. He inspired others to learn, grow and become the best versions of themselves. His optimism, creativity, adventurous spirit and ability to connect people made him unforgettable. He loved deeply, felt intensely and carried burdens that were often unseen.

Benjamin’s life is measured by the love he poured into his family, the children he adored, the friendships he nurtured, the communities he built, the laughter he shared and the countless lives made better because he was part of them.

Though our hearts are broken by his passing, we find comfort in believing Benjamin is finally at peace.

If he taught us anything, it was that love is something you do. It is answering the phone. It is getting in the car. It is helping someone when there is nothing to gain. It is bringing people together and standing beside those who need you most.

Benjamin did that for so many of us.

Now it is our turn to carry that legacy forward.

He was Papa. 
He was Beba. He was Benjamin the Badass. He will be deeply missed, forever celebrated, fiercely loved, and never forgotten.

A celebration of life will be held at Siren’s Song Tavern beginning at 12 p.m. on August 16. Family, friends, and all whose lives Benjamin touched are warmly invited to come together to laugh, cry, share stories and celebrate this remarkable man.

Press release from Cal Poly Humboldt:

Housing & Residence Life at Cal Poly Humboldt will hold its annual emergency simulation on Wednesday, Aug. 12 to test campus and community response teams.

The exercise will take place at 6 p.m. in a residence hall. 

The simulation will be loud and include participation from Cal Poly Humboldt’s Housing & Residence Life, University Police Department, and Campus Resilience & Response, Arcata Fire Department, plus first responders from local agencies. 

Passersby may see smoke coming out of a residence hall and actors crying for help. First responders will use emergency radios and campus traffic flow may be affected.

The exercise aims to train University Housing staff and local first responders on how to respond to a University housing emergency. The emergency simulation is intended to provide a real-time, realistic experience of an emergency as well as provide the opportunity to test and evaluate a practical plan and practice communication among agencies.

Housing & Residence Life began holding multi-agency emergency simulations in 1986. The exercise takes place each year in August. During a real campus emergency, the University will send timely messages to the campus community and post  information on Cal Poly Humboldt’s homepage.

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Opposition is mounting after Open Door Community Health Centers stopped offering new patients under the age of 19 gender-affirming medication prescriptions.

As reported by Robert Schaulis of the Times-Standard, the change went into effect in July. The health system, the largest provider of primary care in Humboldt County, no longer will accept new patients under the age of 19 for hormone treatments, prescribed to transgender patients to better align with their gender identity.

Open Door CEO Tory Starr said federal funding that Open Door relies on was at risk.

“As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Open Door must comply with federal laws, regulations, funding requirements, and contractual obligations,” Starr said in an email.

“Recent changes in the federal environment related to gender-affirming medication treatment for individuals under age 19 have created significant compliance concerns for FQHCs. After careful review, Open Door determined that discontinuing the initiation of new gender-affirming medication treatment for youth is necessary to maintain compliance and protect our ability to continue providing comprehensive healthcare services across our communities,” he said.

This follows a series of efforts by the Trump Administration targeting transgender people. A Jan. 28, 2025 executive order laid the groundwork to significantly limit gender-affirming care for people under age 19.

The administration has taken steps to pressure healthcare organizations to stop offering gender-affirming care for young people through federal agencies, including the Department of Justice. One proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services would withhold Medicaid and Medicare funds from hospitals offering gender-affirming care to youth.

Executive orders and federal directives have caused hospitals and organizations to cut the treatments across the country, even as federal judges blocked enforcement of the order while a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups progresses.

“Our decision was based on a careful review of risks, including new federal contractual language related to gender-affirming care and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives,” Starr said.

But an opposition letter, signed by 350 people and sent to Open Door leadership last week, urges the organization to reinstate the care. Signed by employees, patients, parents, medical providers, councilmembers and community members, the letter argues the health center could’ve kept the practice intact.

“Capitulating is a choice. Open Door is among the first health centers in California to abandon care for transgender young people. Clinics across the country are finding ways to continue care despite federal pressures,” the letter said.

Advocates are calling on Open Door to reinstate the care.

“Leadership at Open Door is pushing a disingenuous narrative that the federal government is requiring them to do this. That is not the full truth,” said Lark Doolan, executive director of Queer Humboldt, in an interview with the Outpost.

“There are multiple solutions, identified by members of Open Door’s leadership, that both meet federal requirements and result in not one child losing access to the healthcare that they need,” he said.

Starr emphasized that the change does not affect the care of current patients.

He said Open Door decided to keep treating patients already receiving care after thoughtful consideration. He said Open Door remains committed to supporting youth and their families through a range of services, including primary care, behavioral health, care coordination and referrals for patients experiencing gender dysphoria.

New patients 16 and older can access hormones at Planned Parenthood, and others can be treated online through True U Clinic.

“Our commitment to caring for youth patients and their families has not changed. We will continue to provide compassionate, comprehensive care and will do everything we can to help patients access the services and support they need,” Starr said.

Of over 60,000 patients, approximately 500 receive gender-affirming care services at Open Door, he said. “The number of patients under 19 currently receiving medication management is small, and their care will continue without interruption,” he said.

Doolan said as a result of this policy change, transgender youth in Humboldt County seeking to start hormones will only have the option of telehealth to start care. He said they will lose out on Open Door’s help with taking injections, and won’t be able to get bloodwork done at Open Door health centers.

He said it will be “virtually impossible for youth in rural outlying regions of Humboldt to access the healthcare that they need,” he said, because of a lack of non-Open Door locations to get lab work done, necessary for hormone treatment.

“Some people are able to access prescriptions and services elsewhere, but not every patient that Open Door turns away will overcome the obstacles that are being created in their path,” he said.

Advocates point to research showing the treatment reduces depression and suicide risk among transgender and nonbinary youth.

“All children deserve the medications and care that they need in order to be happy and healthy and thriving. Refusing medical care for a young person just because they’re trans is morally reprehensible. Refusing to run lab work for a child because they’re transgender is ethically and morally reprehensible. Refusing to offer a needed prescription to a young person just because they’re transgender is discriminatory,” said Doolan. 

He said there’s been an outpouring of opposition to the change, which he described as “a calamity” for trans youth.

To read the letter, click here. The Outpost has reviewed signatures attached to the letter, but has published a version excluding individual names as per a request by Queer Humboldt, who said some that signed are afraid of retaliation.

Meanwhile, Starr said those seeking information about gender-affirming care services can contact Open Door’s Member Services Department. He said community members who would like to express concerns regarding this change in services can call a hotline at 844-973-2721.

Press release from the Yurok Tribe:

After four long years, the Yurok Tribe will be serving traditionally cooked salmon at the 62nd Annual Klamath Salmon Festival on Saturday, August 15.

 “We are especially excited about this year’s event because the return of salmon and the Klamath River’s continued recovery give us much to celebrate,” said the festival’s co-organizer Maya Mace. “We invite everyone to join us in celebrating the mighty Klamath River salmon.” 

The 2026 Salmon Festival is free to attend and open to all. The family-oriented event offers something fun for everyone. The festival includes a Ney-puy Fun Run/5K, a parade, live music by Blue Rhythm Revue, Indian Card Game, Stick Game, basketball, softball, horseshoe and disc golf tournaments and more than 170 vendors selling high-quality gift items. 

The salmon lunch will be served at noon. It will include a piece of juicy salmon prepared over an open fire, chili beans, fresh fruit, a roll and a drink for $15. The Tribe harvested a moderate number of fish for the event. Supplies may run out early, but there will be 20 different lunch vendors, including an Indian taco booth and multiple food trucks. Yurok elders will receive a free salmon lunch, subject to availability.

This year, the recreational and commercial salmon fisheries opened on a limited basis after an unprecedented three-year closure, due to low runs on the Klamath and Sacramento Rivers, the two largest salmon-producing rivers in California. Set by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the Tribe’s closely managed salmon quota is similarly constrained.

Currently, the Klamath River is healing from the removal of four dams in 2024. Salmon have already begun repopulating the newly accessible 400 miles of previously blocked habitat within the mainstem of the Klamath and its tributaries above the former dams and Upper Klamath Lake. This alone is reason to celebrate as the Klamath River continues to rebound.

The 62nd annual Klamath Salmon Festival starts at 9 a.m. with the Ney-puy Fun Run/5K, which is followed by the parade. The Indian Card Game tournament begins at 10 a.m. Registration for the basketball tournament starts at 9:30 a.m. The first game is at 11 a.m. Registration for the horseshoe tournament is at 9:30 a.m. The brand-new horseshoe pits are located next to the Ada Waukell Charles Community Center. Registration for the Disc Golf Tournament starts at 8:15 a.m. The disc golf course is near Redwood RV Park off Alder Camp Road on the north side of the Klamath River. The arm wrestling tournament starts at 12 p.m. The Archie Thompson Memorial Softball Tournament starts at 8 a.m. on both days. All other tournaments are happening on Saturday only. 

The event’s secure parking and highly efficient shuttle service are located off the Terwer Valley exit (Exit 769). Please take the Terwer Valley exit and follow the salmon signs.

This year’s Salmon Festival received generous support from MERK Construction, the Yurok Telecommunication Corporation, LACO, Intake Screens and Friends of Auburn Ravine.

*Please leave pets at home. Service animals are permitted.

*All vendors must be set up before 9am.

Fire map as of this morning. The red squares are the most recent hot spots as detected by satellite.

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UPDATE, 4:30 p.m.: Highway 96 will stay closed all tonight, per Hoopa OES.

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UPDATE, 2 p.m.: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has expanded rhe evacuation warning to include HIA-E003,  the zone north of the Trinity River and East of Pine Creek and French Camp roads. Details here.

“Residents should be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice if fire behavior and weather conditions worsen,” according to the Hoopa Office of Emergency Services. “Residents are advised to prepare for potential evacuations, including gathering personal supplies and overnight accommodations. More information will follow if an Evacuation Order is issued.”

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Original post: Just a quick note to say that Highway 96 is still closed between Hoopa and Weitchpec this morning, due to the Milepost 18 fire.

This fire is measured at 1,500 acres at the moment, with 10 percent containment. The Hoopa Valley Tribe fire department is still in command of the fire response.

As noted in our last post, much of the reservation east of the Trinity River is under a evacuation warning — meaning, authorities are recommending that people in those areas get themselves ready to go, if necessary. Monitor the Hoopa Valley OES Facebook page and the Genasys platform for updates.

Temperatures in the Hoopa Valley are expected to reach 103 degrees today. The Hoopa Valley Tribe maintains a clean air center at the Neighborhood Facility, and it’s open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

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Brain sensors and implants are giving people the ability to control computers, robots and wheelchairs without moving a muscle. Paired with algorithms, the devices can also predict when people are most likely to be productive and when to take a break.

It’s a technology few Californians have used and many likely don’t know exists. But neurotechnology and brain data privacy is increasingly a target for regulation in the California Legislature.

Two years ago, lawmakers extended state digital privacy law protections to brain data. This year, a bill to restrict how employers use the data has cleared the Assembly and made most of its way through the Senate, as has another measure blocking the sale of brain data and other sensitive personal information. In January, new privacy agency rules go into effect that will protect more people from businesses that use AI to make significant decisions about their lives including systems that utilize brain data and the kind made to operate in the workplace.

Neurotech systems gather information using computer chips implanted in the brain or sensors packed into devices like earbuds, headbands, wristbands, or via augmented reality headsets.

Some uses are clearly beneficial: Helping blind people see, people with paralysis speak, and people with neurological disorders work and communicate.

But policymakers and critics of the technology are concerned about its potential to monitor people and make predictions about them, especially in the workplace. For example, brain data can be analyzed to detect mental health disorders like depression and PTSD, potentially allowing for discriminatory hiring or firing decisions. The technology can also be used to predict words or images that form in a person’s mind, raising the possibility that in the future managers could utilize brain data to get the upper hand in salary negotiations or short-circuit union organizing. Some people concerned about the technology describe themselves as part of a mental privacy movement.

Currently, neurotechnology in the workplace is often used to detect focus or fatigue. Hitachi’s SmartCap brain-monitoring headbands are designed to keep tabs on the alertness of people working in sensitive industries like trucking and mining. Employees at an electric power company in China have reportedly been sent home or removed from critical posts if a warning is issued based on neural sensors in their hat.

Many neurotech companies call California home, including brain-implant makers Neuralink and Science Corporation and augmented reality startup Cognixion. California-based tech giant Meta is exploring ways to integrate brain data into its smart glasses.

California lawmakers are looking to regulate the nascent sector before societal harms become commonplace as they did with AI and threats to digital privacy. Other states are also regulating neurotech: Colorado, Connecticut, Montana and Vermont already protect brain data to some extent. And this year Alabama, Illinois, New York, Vermont and Virginia are considering bills to regulate, or further regulate, the use of brain data. A United Nations body introduced the first global standards for how to treat neural data last year, and in February, Canada moved to protect the brain data of its citizens.

In California, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Democrat from Inglewood, is pushing Assembly Bill 1883, which seeks to regulate the use of what’s known as bossware in the workplace and prohibits the collection of brain data by employers unless that data is used for safety. Another bill would expand state privacy law to prohibit the sale of sensitive personal information, which includes neural data.

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan on the Assembly floor at the state Capitol on March 27, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

Bryan said his bill is about ensuring that surveillance technology does not make the workplace hostile to people who are just trying to make a living.

“Much of what’s in our bill is cutting-edge technology or technologies that are emerging in real time, and we are trying to address easily predictable concerns before they hit the workplace,” he said. “You’d rather not have horror stories.”

Bryan’s bill drew opposition from major employers, including local governments and groups that represent assisted living facilities, grocers, hospitals, and wine growers. Opponents argue the measure is too broad and would prevent them from using tools that ensure safe driving, detect theft and stop inappropriate behavior toward customers.

The regulatory interest comes as Meta’s Neural Band begins to connect with smart glasses and neurotech startups seek to integrate their tech with Apple’s Vision Pro augmented reality headset. Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended breakthrough device designation to many neurotech companies, which allows businesses to market hardware that’s in clinical trials and gives them an expedited path to commercial availability.

Nita Farahany is a Duke University professor who advises lawmakers on mental privacy protections. She fears that without adequate protections, workers may self-censor by avoiding thinking about things that could upset their employers like organizing a union. She said workers at neurotech companies have told her their employers are deciding their business model now, in particular whether to sell subscriptions, sell expensive devices or sell cheap devices and monetize the brain data of their customers.

“We’re at a critical decision point for most of the neurotech companies,” she said. “Privately all of them are grappling with this right now.”

Legislation like the bill that would prohibit the sale of neural data and other sensitive information may make that decision for small companies, Farahany said, but that won’t make a difference for tech giants like Meta if they choose to keep brain data for their own purposes such as personalized advertising.

Virtually all companies developing non-invasive forms of brain-computer interface technology have poor privacy practices written into their terms of service, according to a study by Stephen Damianos of the Neurorights Foundation, which supports more regulation of neural data. The 2024 study found that two-thirds of companies surveyed allowed data sharing with third parties.

Damianos said data collection is poised to ramp up as devices and the algorithms they use to interpret brain data improve. Without regulation, “enormous new risks emerge that can lead to people getting excluded from jobs or penalized by insurance companies or monitored at work,” he added. “So there’s an urgent need to act now before it becomes the norm that brain data is accessed without consent or used to influence decisions.”

California startups building brain tech

California-based makers of neurotechnology emphasized the benefits of their products and said they are involved with international efforts to adopt standards for the use of brain data in an ethical way.

Cognixion, which is based in Santa Barbara, makes headsets that can overlay useful information on top of a view of a user’s surroundings, technology known as augmented reality. Cognixion’s headset is also packed with brain data sensors, allowing people with neurological disorders like ALS to use their head movement, mind and eyes to interact with apps like Slack to communicate with coworkers or Outlook to send emails. Founder and CEO Andreas Forsland told CalMatters that neurotechnology developed for people with ALS could make life better for everyone, in much the same way that providing automatic doors and curb cut outs for people in wheelchairs aids everyone’s mobility.

He believes it’s inevitable that brain data will be broadly used “either for understanding and optimizing human performance or providing an alternative to hands-on control.”

The Cognixion ONE Axon-R headset. Images via Cognixion

Emotiv, based in San Francisco, makes earbuds with sensors that measure electrical activity in the brain. The company then uses algorithms to predict what these signals mean. Emotiv designs its earbuds to give people insights into how to go about their entire day. It wants to help users find and choose appropriate interventions for when they are stressed or tired, said Emotiv Chief Commercial Officer Kim Old.

The company also is working to make its products useful in workplaces and to the corporations that run them. The company says SAP used Emotiv tech to personalize employee training based on brain activity, Dell used brain data to personalize employee break schedules, and real estate company JLL used brain data to explore whether office layouts influence employee performance. Each of those projects were experiments, Old said, and Emotiv maintains that brain data deserves sensitive treatment, should be collected with consent, and people deserve control over how their brain data is used or shared.

“We do not believe neural data should be used for covert or coercive workplace surveillance,” Old told CalMatters in an email in June.

Alexander Kies is a postdoctoral researcher at RWTH Aachen University in Germany who studies how consumers react when interacting with employees that use neurotech to do their jobs. He thinks neurotech that doesn’t require surgery will spread first in the workplace and that employers will start with monitoring brain data to help prevent worker fatigue then move on to using brain data to inform management decisionmaking. Once that happens it will become increasingly difficult to tell whether managers collect data to protect your well-being or control every part of your life.

“My take on this is these management tasks would creep in,” he said. “We’re taking away agency from employees.”

Guarding brain data in California

Though California lawmakers have been pioneers in regulating the use of neural data, last year there was a retreat. A bill regulating the use of automated decision systems in the workplace was amended to remove references to neural data in order to garner enough votes to pass. The watered-down measure was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said it would have placed overly broad restrictions on businesses.

The challenge that lawmakers and regulators face, said the bill’s coauthor, Stockton Democratic Sen. Jerry McNerney, is how to put guardrails in place that protect workers from harm but still allow employers to explore potential opportunities of the technology they can take advantage of. The measure Newsom vetoed, Senate Bill 7, included brain data, he said, because “that’s the most personal thing you have, your brain.”

“We want to make sure that neural data isn’t used to predict behavior that would cause you to punish an employee so no predictive algorithms are allowed,” he said during a panel conversation hosted by CalMatters at James Irvine Foundation offices in San Francisco last year.

Sara Flocks of the California Labor Federation, which supports bills to regulate the use of worker brain data, said brain data has the potential to be used to repeat mistakes made during the Industrial Revolution, when initiatives to squeeze performance efficiency out of employees led to poor working conditions.

That mistake can be repeated in the future with brain data and today with AI, she said, pointing to a recent survey that found that one in five managers use automation for hiring, firing, or promotion decisions, and a 2023 survey found that three out of four employers use some form of employee surveillance or bossware.

Farahany said neural data isn’t today revealing as much about workers as other information, such as their keystrokes, social media activity or heart rate. But that may change as improvements are made to the hardware that taps into brain data and the AI that translates that data.

Any gains from neurotechnology could be undermined by a loss of trust and autonomy among employees if they feel their privacy and mental self determination are negatively impacted, Farahany argued in her book, The Battle for Your Brain.

What’s at stake, she said, is not just the invasion of your privacy or the possibility that AI deployed by your employer may predict how often you have negative thoughts about your boss. Without privacy protections, this technology can undermine cognitive freedom and your ability to function as an autonomous, independent person.

“There’s an urgent need to protect mental privacy and self determination,” she told CalMatters. “It’s part of a bigger picture that needs to be addressed.”

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Nearly four years ago, California lawmakers ordered state regulators to prepare for an industry that promised a new way to fight climate change: permanently burying carbon dioxide underground.

The law called for rules governing how companies would monitor stored carbon and respond if something failed. It set a January 2025 deadline to address how companies would prove they could pay for cleanup and other costs, and to establish a single application coordinating permits across agencies.

Paid to bury carbon

Carbon storage doesn’t turn a profit on its own. At Elk Hills, CRC and its affiliates could draw on four public funding streams worth billions:

• Federal tax credit, $85/ton: At the current pace (~100,000 metric tons/year), about $8.5 million a year. At a faster pace, one that would fill the reservoir within the credit’s 12-year window, Elk Hills’ first phase alone could yield $3.2 billion — and CRC and its affiliates could take in as much as $30 billion if the company’s statewide plans scale up.
• Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits, $72/ton: CRC has applied to qualify buried carbon under this program, normally reserved for cleaner transportation fuels. It would likely cover fewer tons than the project actually buries, since capturing and storing the carbon spends emissions of its own. The benefit may go to a related company, not CRC itself.
• Cap-and-invest, $29/ton: Still-unwritten rules will decide whether buried carbon counts as reduced pollution. If it does, a company could cut costs — or end up with surplus permits, since oil and gas producers get free permits based on production, not emissions. Again, the benefit may not go to CRC itself.
• Manufacturing Decarbonization Incentive, a $4 billion pool: A new slice of cap-and-invest allowances — the same pot that funds transit, drinking water, and affordable housing — set aside for companies investing in tech like carbon capture.

More than 19 months after that deadline, California has not adopted its carbon storage rules.

In May, California’s largest oil producer, California Resources Corp., began burying carbon at Elk Hills, a vast, century-old oil field in rural Kern County. With its injections, the project became an important test run: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which approved the injections, could point to no other project like it in the United States.

Without its own rules in place, California can’t hold companies like CRC to a tougher standard than the federal government, or make sure for itself that the carbon — a gas that suffocates people in high concentrations and drives climate change — stays in the ground.

“If something does go wrong, there are a lot of really important questions about who would actually address those concerns and impacts,” said Michelle Ghafar, an Earthjustice attorney representing groups suing to stop the project. “And we have a history of oil companies not taking responsibility for cleaning up their messes.”

State leaders have championed the Elk Hills project. Gov. Gavin Newsom has called the Elk Hills injections “proof that innovation and ambition are the California way.” State Sen. Anna Caballero said she never meant the law she authored, which ordered the rules, to stall projects already in progress.

The state is counting on carbon capture to meet its ambitious climate goals. Advocates long described the technology as a fix for industries that are hard to clean up, such as cement plants. But the California Air Resources Board, the state’s main climate regulator, has told CalMatters it likely can’t cut emissions to 85% below 1990 levels without using carbon capture far more widely, including potentially at gas-fired power plants.

The task of writing the carbon storage rules falls to the air board. Two other agencies already oversee parts of the project: the Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, which regulates oil and gas wells, and the U.S. EPA, which permits the injection wells under federal drinking-water law.

But questions about who has authority over the project remain unresolved. It’s not clear which agency is in charge if carbon escapes through one of the oil field’s older wells, for instance. CalGEM regulates those wells, but the company’s emergency plan requires notifying the EPA when something goes wrong.

Air board officials said staffing issues kept them from getting the rules done in time. They pointed to the oversight that exists, which includes the federal permit designed to keep drinking water safe and a Kern County approval whose environmental review is being challenged in court.

A 26R manifold pad where carbon dioxide is transported to the injection wells. Image courtesy of the California Resources Corporation

The financial stakes are high. The project could earn billions in public money — funded partly by federal tax credits, partly by California drivers — if the project scales up as planned.

“If you’re a driver, you should care how this money is being spent,” said Danny Cullenward, a climate expert and vice chair of an independent committee that reviews the carbon market. “You are also paying a lot of money for very large oil companies to experiment with these technologies in the absence of a regulatory framework.”

The company sees its storage business as both aligned with the state’s goals, as well as an opportunity.

“Our goal is to be a partner to the state as it transitions into the future that it envisions for itself,” said Jas Sajjan, the company’s senior vice president of government affairs.

Depleted reservoirs pierced by drilling

Amid the scrub-covered Elk Hills west of Bakersfield, an oil field worker in a hard hat turned a green valve by hand. On a nearby sign, red digits glowed like a scoreboard, tallying the tons as California’s largest oil producer began pumping carbon dioxide deep underground.

The scenes, captured in promotional photographs the company released of the May injections, were among the company’s chosen images of the moment. The Elk Hills project is the first of a joint venture called Carbon TerraVault that CRC formed with New York investor Brookfield Asset Management to pursue its carbon capture projects.

For decades, oil companies have injected carbon dioxide into aging fields to squeeze out more crude, a practice banned in California called enhanced oil recovery. At Elk Hills, the carbon is injected solely for permanent storage — the only known project of its kind in the U.S., the EPA said.

The company, federal regulators and state officials see the field’s vast, depleted reservoirs as well suited for storage because they held oil and gas for millions of years.

But the field’s appeal as a storage site is its own risk. It’s been drilled since 1910, and old wells could give carbon dioxide a path back to the surface. The nearest community, Valley Acres, sits less than four miles away.

FracTracker Alliance, a nonprofit that maps oil and gas development, identified 913 oil and gas wells within a mile of the project’s four injection wells, in a new analysis for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. Most of them are unplugged, and even plugged wells can deteriorate, said Kyle Ferrar, the group’s western program director. The count may understate the total, since old records may omit wells entirely, he added.

The concern isn’t new. In 2024, a retired federal geoscientist who reviewed the project warned that 204 wells pierced the rock layer meant to seal the reservoir now receiving injections and could become escape routes for carbon dioxide.

The project’s emergency plan and the permit behind it rest on the Safe Drinking Water Act, but also require surface air monitoring and a plan to inform the public of an emergency.

But that leaves a gap, experts say: federal rules require regular integrity tests only on the injection wells themselves, not the hundreds of older wells around them, said Forrest Smith, a petroleum engineer who spent six years as the National Park Service’s sole engineer overseeing thousands of aging oil and gas wells. That leaves much of the burden on the company to police itself.

“There’s not a lot of going back and checking these old wells until they become a problem,” he said. “It’s really making sure that the companies doing this are staying on top of it.”

The company declined to comment on the FracTracker analysis or the geoscientist’s earlier concerns, but said the risks have been addressed. Before injection began, the EPA required the company to plug or replug about 200 wells, the agency said in a press release. It relied on records from CalGEM, the state’s oil and gas regulator, said Mikayla Rumph, an EPA spokesperson.

First: A worker opens a wellhead valve on a well for the first injection at the CRC carbon storage project in the Elk Hills oil field. Last: A sign tracks the first tons of carbon dioxide injected into the ground. Images courtesy of the California Resources Corporation

CalGEM confirmed it reviewed the wells ordered plugged by the EPA. The state retains authority over other wells in the field, including observation wells tied to the project, but won’t regulate the injection wells themselves, said Jacob Roper, a spokesperson for CalGEM.

The rules were never meant to delay projects

California released its first outline of its carbon capture rules in May, and environmentalists say it falls short of the law. The air board expects to finish the rules this year.

Oil industry and business groups want the already-delayed process finished, not expanded.

The air board’s outline requires companies to monitor their sites, disclose results, and prove they can pay to fix a leak or plug a well for 100 years after injection ends. But because the air board hasn’t finished the rules to enforce that standard, it’s unclear whether the 100-year requirement applies to Elk Hills now, or the shorter federal standard governs in the meantime.

The outline also does not say whether companies’ monitoring work would be independently verified, or spell out when a leak or earthquake would require warning nearby residents.

CRC has told the EPA it plans to monitor groundwater quality and track the underground carbon dioxide plume for 50 years after injection ends. The company has also posted a $9.1 million letter of credit to plug wells and care for the site afterward, and bought a separate $24.6 million insurance policy to cover the cost of responding if something goes wrong.

It has asked the air board to define what added coverage the second 50 years would require, arguing the risk is lower once the plume has settled.

At an online public meeting in June, Jon Kendrick of the California Chamber of Commerce urged the air board to avoid duplicating federal rules. In written comments, CRC asked the board not to impose broader California-specific requirements.

Katie Valenzuela, an environmental justice policy advocate, said the air board’s outline leans too heavily toward shifting responsibility onto the companies themselves. “What’s the point of having standards and rules if there’s no mechanism in place to ensure those things are being met?” she asked at the meeting.

Matthew Botill, a division chief for the air board, said Senate Bill 905, the 2022 law ordering the rules, never gave the air board power to override agencies already permitting projects. In a separate interview with CalMatters last year, Botill said his agency didn’t have the budget to hire the experts needed to write the rules on time. Even if rules were in place, Botill told CalMatters, his agency would not have the authority to approve or block projects. Doing so is “outside” the state’s “direct regulatory purview,” he said.

A capture and metering facility for the Carbon TerraVault I (CTV I) project. Image courtesy of the California Resources Corporation

That was intentional: As the law moved through the Legislature, its author, Caballero, sent a letter telling agencies not to let the coming rules delay projects already underway.

Caballero, in a statement to CalMatters, said the law was meant to coordinate existing agencies. California needs projects like Elk Hills to hit its climate goals and create jobs.

“We want to encourage the kind of investment that helps California meet its climate goals while creating and protecting jobs,” she said.

A technology that could spread

With billions in public money on the table, carbon storage projects could spread across California.

CRC is injecting carbon captured from its cryogenic gas plant in Elk Hills which cools gases to extremely low temperatures to separate them.

The company also intends to draw carbon from a nearby natural-gas power plant, opening another source of carbon for the project.

The company is pressing state utility regulators to let natural gas plants fitted with carbon capture count as clean power. If regulators agree, utilities could sign long-term contracts for that electricity, opening a new market for the company, a prospect chief executive Francisco Leon called “a game changer,” and “an incredible opportunity” in May.

The company has also signed agreements to bury carbon dioxide from other businesses, part of a plan to turn its statewide storage sites into hubs for the state’s industrial emissions.

A network of pipes, valves and infrastructure for the carbon capture process. Image courtesy of the California Resources Corporation

A statewide build-out would likely need pipelines to move that carbon to the wells. California lifted its moratorium on those pipelines last year, and new rules adopted by the Office of the State Fire Marshal went into effect last month. Those rules don’t require the gas to be given an odor, leaving people near a leak no way to smell it, said Liza Tucker, a researcher with the group Consumer Watchdog.

In a new report, Tucker argues that carbon storage is a lifeline for an industry the state is supposed to be winding down.

“All it does is entrench us and invest us in keeping fossil fuels alive far longer than we ought to be,” Tucker said.

For now, the company is injecting carbon at Elk Hills while an environmental lawsuit over the project remains unresolved. The suit, brought by a coalition of Kern County community groups and environmental organizations, argues the project’s environmental review never grappled with where all the carbon will come from: the capturing and piping of carbon from industrial sources into a region already among the most polluted in the country.

Ghafar, the Earthjustice attorney representing groups challenging the project, said no single agency is examining the project’s full range of risks. Federal regulators focus largely on drinking water, while state agencies oversee separate pieces of the project, leaving unanswered who would take charge if carbon dioxide escaped aboveground, she said.

“It’s really alarming that they’ve started injection when we don’t have a decision yet from the court on these really important questions about whether the risk of leaks, disasters and proper regulation have been fully addressed,” Ghafar said. “There really is no one agency or one entity that is looking at the full scope.”