Letter to the Editor: Oil Drilling Around the Clock

Dear Editor:

E&B oil has submitted a project proposal that states an intention to create massive changes to the city of Hermosa Beach. First and foremost, they are going to ask the city to believe that they are operating a safe, honest process of harvesting oil from beneath our town and from under our ocean. Our first glimpse into what they propose to do is in having the ability to read their proposal. This proposal is peppered with city code violations. When it seems convenient to follow the code, E&B will cite such code in a highly visible way. Any intention to wiggle around this code is, at best, a parenthetical statement hidden deep inside a paragraph.

My problem begins when there are phases of the proposed project where following the code will be either inconvenient or impossible. When this is the case, the suggestion that the code will be waived, changed or violated seems to be less openly written. Once such case can be found on page 45 of the E&B Project Proposal and reads, “The drill rig would operate continuously for 24 hours per day, seven days per week, until the appropriate depth and bottom-hole location for each well has been reached. It is estimated it would take approximately 30 days per well for each of the four wells.” This is a description of the drilling of test wells and one re-injection well. With no problems, we are looking at a minimum of 4 months of around-the-clock drilling and associated noise and disruption, just related to the test wells. The additional 30 wells will take 3 more years of around-the-clock drilling.

Our city municipal code has several provisions that state that this type of activity is prohibited. Specifically, in chapter 8, section 24.040, part C, the following is considered prohibited noise: “the sustained, continuous or repeated operation or use between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. of any motor or engine or the repair, modification, reconstruction, testing or operation of any automobile, motorcycle, machine, contrivance, or mechanical device or other contrivance or facility unless such motor, engine, automobile, motorcycle, machine or mechanical device is enclosed within a sound-insulated structure so as to prevent noise and sound from being plainly audible at the property line of the property from which the sound is emanating.” Furthermore, chapter 8, section 24.050 restricts the hours of construction from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and states that “construction activity shall include site preparation, demolition, grading, excavation, and the erection, improvement, remodeling or repair of structures, including operation of equipment or machinery and the delivery of materials associated with those activities.” As a person who lives near the proposed site, and whose home (like many in the area) is above the sound attenuation wall and in the line of sight of proposed drilling rigs, equipment, vehicles, workmen, and other aspects of the project, I am highly concerned. The proposed sound attenuation wall does nothing to address the issue of noise pollution facing the majority of houses around the proposed drill site.

I am concerned that E&B oil might already be operating under the assumption that this code will be ignored or amended for the purposes of their operation. I am concerned that any false assumption, created either by the city council, the city manager, or anyone misleading the citizens of Hermosa, will allow 24 hour a day construction and drilling, and will lead to another lawsuit. I want the citizens of Hermosa, the very citizens who will be voting about the next 35 years of our city’s future, to be informed in every step of this process. I am presently dissatisfied with this council’s ability to clearly present information about this project.

Keep Hermosa, hermosa,
Michael Collins