A Kern County judge ruled that California Resources Corp.’s TerraVault carbon capture project violated state environmental law, ordering its approval to be set aside.
The judge found the project’s environmental review failed to consider the impacts of industries expected to supply the facility with carbon dioxide, among other shortcomings.
Driving the news: Environmental groups argued that the project’s environmental impact report inadequately assessed cumulative environmental and greenhouse gas impacts, a view with which the judge agreed on several counts.
TerraVault 1, the state’s first operational carbon storage project, began injecting carbon dioxide earlier in 2026 and is designed to collect up to 46 million metric tons of CO₂ underground in a Kern County oil field.
State of play: The company is still injecting carbon as the ruling is not final, creating uncertainty about when or if operations will be halted.
The project was expected to boost Kern County’s economy as the region transitions away from oil, and more than 15 similar projects are in development statewide.
The other side: Critics, including residents near the facility, raised concerns about air pollution and potential carbon dioxide leaks from storage reservoirs or pipelines.
Go deeper: The judge noted that CRC’s environmental review did not analyze how future industrial sources, such as hydrogen, cement, and steel plants, might impact the local area.
CRC called the ruling a setback for climate action and criticized the use of California’s environmental law to challenge the project, indicating plans to pursue all options to move forward.
The ruling coincided with debate over Proposition 45, a ballot measure that would limit courts’ ability to halt essential projects and set deadlines for environmental reviews. The proposition was trailing in early election results.