Posted on 08/25/2008 7:08:11 AM PDT by Entrepreneur
Oil fields aren't new in Los Angeles. But with the price of crude beyond $100 a barrel, it is cost-effective to start drilling there again, in both old and new wells. And that has made some residents very unhappy.
"What we have is a world class oil field sitting below a world class city," said John Martini, manager of governmental affairs for Plains Exploration and Production Co., or PXP. The Texas oil company does extensive work in the Inglewood oil fields.
Now, the company is seeking government approval to tap as many as 50 new or existing wells a year for the next 20 years.
Last year, Los Angeles County had 3,400 wells in operation. As the price of oil climbs, speculators are interested in drilling new wells and tapping old ones throughout the area.
Iraj Ershaghi, director of petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California, says only about a third of Los Angeles' available oil has been recovered. And new drilling technology can change that.
"We have produced 9 billion barrels," Ershaghi said. "That means you got 18 billion barrels left right here — right here in Los Angeles."
Ershaghi says the Los Angeles Basin is one of the richest oil regions in the world. Before the urban sprawl, drilling rugs dotted the landscape. Even today, Ershaghi says, there are active oil wells in some unlikely locations.
"If you go to Beverly Hills High school, you see an oil well right on the campus," Ershaghi said. "If you go to Century City, you see that beautifully decorated rig, that they put flowers around that so it matches the building. That's a very unusual place."
But many of the city's oil operations have been controversial. In 2003, 12 former students at Beverly Hills High sued a collection of oil companies, claiming that drilling on campus had caused cancer and other diseases.
A lower court dismissed the case for lack of evidence, but the ex-students have appealed. Now, people living near the Inglewood oil fields are protesting PXP's plan to increase production.
Lark Galloway Gilliam lives down the hill from the Inglewood oil field. As executive director of Community Health Councils, she and hundreds of residents are asking for more environmental reviews and safeguards before PXP gets the green light to expand to as many as 1,000 new wells.
"My mother, I grew up here, and she died at a very early age to cancer. I saw another four people on my block die of cancer, and of course we'll never know. And of course, the science is not there to make a link between what's happening in this field and cancer, but you wonder."
Two years ago, residents in nearby Culver City evacuated their homes one night after a mysterious gas leak, prompting PXP to voluntarily shut down its operations until the county finishes an environmental review.
"What were saying is, look, we need to operate harmoniously with our neighbors and we're willing to subject ourselves to more regulations, whether we like it or whether we agree with it or not," PXP Vice President Steve Rausch said. "So pass it. Let's go!"
But that doesn't go over well with residents who've been packing public hearings — even those who get monthly checks for oil pulled from their property, people like Bernard Rollins.
"I'm one of those persons who gets royalties from them," Rollins said, "but they can't buy my soul for a few hundred dollars a year."
Rollins says he doesn't trust the oil company's promises. In fact, he proposes a complete moratorium on oil drilling here.
"I mean, everyone is in a panic because prices are going up, but I don't think resurrecting these wells is the answer," Rollins said. "I'm hoping that people start to stand up and say, look, oil is over."
This fall, county officials will decide whether to allow more production in this part of Los Angeles.
What the hell is a Mandalit del Barco ?
I've got to wonder if living next to environmentalists causes cancer.
First Street, Los Angeles City oil field circa 1900. Courtesy of the Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles Museum of Natural History
Historic Oil and Gas Drilling in the Los Angeles Area
http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dog/photo_gallery/historic_mom/pages/photo_01.aspx
Just another dumb a**ed liberal. Fortunately most people in the US don't agree with this guy. If we could only shut off oil from the States for one month(probably wouldn't take that long)people would see just how much oil is not over. What a stupid statement.
Drill Los Angeles Drill NOW! Drill Oklahoma City Drill Now!!
These are the same people who openly weep over electric power shortages and won’t do a damned thing to help themselves.
let them sweat and starve in the dark.
Iraj Ershaghi, the only one with a brain in this entire article.
As an OKC area resident, I can assure you that they are, even in the old OKC oilfield of the 1930s. As for the LA NIMBYs, they can freeze in the dark. Except for the three years I spent in Germany while in the USArmy, I have lived around oilfields all of my life (53 years). I grew up playing and hunting pastures where wells pumped because my dad worked for Texaco. Technology has advanced far past what I experienced in the 60s/70s and what is pictured from the LA archives up the thread. People can adapt.
No boast but have one well, with Chesapeake starting on second.
Roughnecked around Anadarko, and quickly decided needed to make something of my life LOL!!!!!
Why would there be so many wells within such a small area? Are they going to different depths or is the geology such that a well can only pull oil from a very limited area?
“I mean, everyone is in a panic because prices are going up, but I don’t think resurrecting these wells is the answer,” Rollins said. “I’m hoping that people start to stand up and say, look, oil is over.”
I-D-I-O-T!
If Rollins is still pulling up to the pump every other day and shelling out 4 bucks a gallon even though he doesn't want to, I'd say he refutes his own words several times a week.
No one is going to pay $4 a gallon if they don't have to. They have to, because oil is not over and every one of us prove it every day.
But the bottom feeders stayed behind.
From the article:
“If you go to Beverly Hills High school, you see an oil well right on the campus,” Ershaghi said. “If you go to Century City, you see that beautifully decorated rig, that they put flowers around that so it matches the building. That’s a very unusual place.”
But many of the city’s oil operations have been controversial. In 2003, 12 former students at Beverly Hills High sued a collection of oil companies, claiming that drilling on campus had caused cancer and other diseases.”
This was the result of Erin Brockovich’s employer drumming up business by claiming cancer rates were twenty times higher here than else where. Finally they had to admit it was just something they made up.
“Judge Orders Masry Firm and Others to Turn Over Data, Says Beverly Hills City Attorney
Business Wire, July 18, 2003
Business Editors
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—July 18, 2003
Masry & Vititoe and Texas Law Firm Baron & Budd Admit They Lack
Studies to Support Claims of Health Issues At Beverly Hills High
School, According to City Attorney Laurence Wiener
Saying attorney Ed Masry and his co-counsel from Texas may be held in contempt of court if they don’t produce information subpoenaed by the City of Beverly Hills, Superior Court Judge Valerie Baker has given the law firms of Masry & Vititoe and Baron & Budd until Tuesday, July 22, to provide environmental and health testing data regarding their allegation of health issues at Beverly Hills High School, according to Beverly Hills City Attorney Laurence Wiener.
Also in court yesterday, an attorney for the Masry and Baron firms admitted his clients have not commissioned studies to support their claim of abnormally-high cancer rates among Beverly Hills High School alumni, Wiener said. “If the firms have never commissioned epidemiological or population studies of Beverly Hills High School alumni, how can they possibly support claims that cancer rates among Beverly Hills High graduates are higher than in the general population,” Wiener asked.”
Maybe Julia Robert’s can grab some cash from this scam too.
bookmark
“I’ve got to wonder if living next to environmentalists causes cancer.”
It’s gotta be a contributing factor towards depression
Fascinating
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