City Issues Statement on Permit Snafu

• Previously: City Cited For Lack of Drilling Permit
  

The following statement was released by Hermosa Beach City Manager Tom Bakaly this afternoon and follows media reports about violation notices the city received from Los Angeles County. Two companies working for E&B Natural Resources were also cited for not having the necessary permit to drill during groundwater testing at the public works yard, at 6th St. and Valley Drive.

“The work at the city’s maintenance yard involved shallow borings into the soil to obtain groundwater samples as part of the information-gathering process for the environmental review of the oil production project proposed by E&B. This is a relatively routine sampling operation for a project of this type, and it required just one day of work and little disruption of the site. While the city staff investigated the need for a state permit for the water sampling process, it was unaware that a Los Angeles County permit was needed for such work. 

The county has said it will accept a permit request now for the earlier work. E&B and its contractors are responsible for obtaining all permits for work related to the project application. The city will be working with E&B to ensure that all needed permits are obtained for all future work related to the proposed project. 

We apologize for any confusion this environmental data-gathering process might have caused. The city remains committed to providing residents and voters with thorough information about the proposed oil production project and will strive to communicate more fully in the future. As part of the ongoing communication, the City Council will receive an update at its meeting on May 28 about Hermosa Beach’s General Plan, its Community Dialogue and the environmental review process for the proposed oil production project. We invite all the city’s residents to become involved in these processes to help determine the future of Hermosa Beach.

As is often the case after a Project Application is deemed complete, the city had asked E&B for additional information for the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) submitted as part of E&B’s Project Application. A contractor for E&B conducted shallow borings in the soil at the maintenance yard to obtain groundwater samples to address soil contamination known to exist on the site because of its historic use as a landfill. This sampling process did not constitute 'testing' or sampling for oil at the site: It only sought information about groundwater and is much different from oil drilling. 

The information from this sampling will help the city gain more information about the groundwater conditions underlying the site and to better evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the proposed RAP. Groundwater information also is essential for an accurate description of baseline environmental conditions in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) the city will be preparing to examine all environmental impacts of the proposed project. 

The city had a license agreement with E&B that gave the company and its contractors access to the maintenance yard to obtain the samples. The work was completed on May 7. Before the work began, the city had asked and determined that no state permit was required. After the work was completed, the city became aware that the Los Angeles County Public Health Department’s Bureau of Environmental Protection required a permit and that the permit should have been obtained by the geotechnical contracting company hired by E&B. 

The city notified E&B of its responsibility to obtain the permit. E&B’s contractor has now filed for the appropriate permit with Los Angeles County." 
More information can be found by accessing the Phase I and Phase II Environmental Assessment and the RAP in Appendix G of Volume 2 of the Project Application on the city website at http://www.hermosabch.org; See “Proposed Oil Production Project” under Spotlight.

• Previously: City Cited For Lack of Drilling Permit