A Kern County Superior Court ruling on November 2, 2026, found that the county’s approval of Carbon TerraVault I, a carbon capture and storage project at the Elk Hills oil field, violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the plaintiffs announced a day later. They say operator California Resources Corporation must stop operations until it complies.
Key points
- The court found that Kern County did not adequately assess, disclose and mitigate the project’s environmental effects, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs.
- The ruling requires the county to set aside its environmental review and project approval, the group says.
- California Resources Corporation (CRC) announced its first carbon dioxide injection at the project on May 26, 2026.
- CRC says the first storage reservoir can take up to 1.46 million metric tons of CO2 a year and hold 38 million metric tons in total.
- A coalition of community, environmental justice and conservation groups filed the lawsuit in 2024.
What the court ruling says
The Center for Biological Diversity says the court found extensive flaws in the county’s review, including a failure to fully assess, disclose and mitigate the project’s environmental effects, and that these flaws undermine the project’s claim that it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The group says CRC must halt all project operations until the county’s review complies with CEQA. We could not review the court’s written decision; the details here come from the plaintiffs’ announcement.
The plaintiffs are the Central California Environmental Justice Network and the Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice; the Center for Biological Diversity; and the Committee for a Better Shafter, Delano Guardians and Comité Progreso de Lamont, represented by the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the review “failed at almost every level” to show the project would be safe or effective.
In the groups’ view, the project could keep one of California’s oldest oil and gas fields running longer, and the field’s thousands of previously drilled wells raise the risk of leaks. They say the stored CO2 would come from existing Elk Hills operations and from hydrogen, cement and steel plants that the county and CRC propose to build.
How Carbon TerraVault I works
CRC announced the first CO2 injection on May 26, 2026. According to the company, the project stores CO2 from its cryogenic gas plant in depleted oil and gas reservoirs more than a mile underground, and its first reservoir, 26R, was the first in California to receive final Class VI permits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. CRC has asked the EPA to permit eight more reservoirs with about 352 million metric tons of potential storage.
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 26R maximum injection rate | Up to 1.46 million metric tons of CO2 a year | CRC |
| 26R total storage | 38 million metric tons | CRC |
| Full project, as described by plaintiffs | 49 million metric tons over 26 years | Center for Biological Diversity |
| Planned additional reservoirs | About 352 million metric tons | CRC |
The storage business is a joint venture: CRC holds 51% and Brookfield 49%. Brookfield has contributed $92 million to date, according to CRC’s quarterly report for the period ended September 30, 2026.
Why it matters
The ruling affects the project that CRC calls California’s first operational carbon capture and storage site, and the state’s climate plan counts on the technology. A 2023 California Air Resources Board presentation on SB 905, the law that set up the state’s carbon capture program, says the 2022 Scoping Plan showed carbon capture and carbon removal are needed to reach carbon neutrality by 2045. It also cites Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for 20 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent removal by 2030 and 100 million by 2045.
A permit list on the EPA’s Pacific Southwest regional website, last updated October 26, 2026, shows at least a dozen pending Class VI applications for carbon storage in California, most of them from CRC.
Our overview of environmental technology examples explains how carbon capture works. See also Meta’s low-carbon cement deal with Fortera.
Other perspectives
When injection began in May, CRC President and CEO Francisco Leon said the milestone showed California can lead on climate solutions that work at scale and at a reasonable cost. California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez called carbon capture, utilization and storage “a critical piece of California’s climate solutions puzzle,” according to the company’s release. CRC did not respond to an emailed question from Inside Climate News about the litigation in July.
What’s next
- According to the plaintiffs, Kern County must set aside its review and approval, and project operations must stop until the county complies with CEQA.
Sources
- Court Rules California’s First Major Carbon Capture Project Violates Law — Center for Biological Diversity, November 3, 2026
- California Resources Corporation Achieves First CO2 Injection — California Resources Corporation, May 26, 2026
- California Resources Corp. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 — California Resources Corporation via SEC
- Overview of SB 905 Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization and Storage Program — California Air Resources Board, August 15, 2023
- UIC Permits in EPA’s Pacific Southwest (Region 9) — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, updated October 26, 2026
- California’s First Carbon Capture Project Is Up and Running. Environmentalists Are Still Trying To Stop It. — Inside Climate News, July 3, 2026
