An oil field became California’s first carbon vault. Who’s responsible if something goes wrong?

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. State leaders have championed the Elk Hills project. Gavin Newsom has called the Elk Hills injections “proof that innovation and ambition are the California way.” 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 now, the company is injecting carbon at Elk Hills while an environmental lawsuit over the project remains unresolved.