City Assailed for Go-Ahead on Oil Wells

An oil company has received the go-ahead to install up to 60 wells on property in Huntington Beach surrounded by homes whose owners expressed bitter disappointment Tuesday about the city’s approval of the project.

The homeowners also questioned whether a possible conflict-of-interest should invalidate a key vote in the split decision approving the proposal by Angus Petroleum Corp.

On a 4-3 vote, the Huntington Beach City Council agreed late Monday to allow the company to operate as many as 60 new wells on two blocks. One is bounded by Toronto Avenue, California Street, Springfield Avenue and Huntington Street; the second is bordered by Springfield, California, Delaware Street and Rochester Avenue.

In exchange for approval to install and operate the new wells, the company plans to abandon 34 other wells around the city.

Council members John A. Thomas, Jack Kelly, Don MacAllister and Peter M. Green supported the project while Mayor Robert P. Mandic joined council members Ruth Finley and Ruth Bailey in voting against it.

The proposal originally was unanimously denied by the city’s Planning Commission. But Councilman Thomas appealed the denial and brought the issue to the council.

During the heated council meeting Monday night, a resident, Bob Richardson, asked Thomas to disqualify himself from the vote because Thomas’ company is in the oil-field services business. Richardson, who said he lives 100 feet from the project site, said the John A. Thomas Crane & Trucking Co. could stand to benefit from the project.

City Atty. Gail Clifford Hutton said she reviewed court rulings and determined that Thomas’ vote did not present a conflict of interest. Hutton said there are at least five other companies in Orange County, Long Beach and Paramount that could provide the same services as Thomas’ company.

“The real test is if there is foreseeable” financial benefit to the council member that would be greater than to the general public, Hutton said. In essence, because there are other companies in competition for the business, Thomas did not have a conflict of interest.

Thomas said Tuesday that he has never dealt with Angus Petroleum Co. and had not been asked to bid for Angus’ jobs. “So I don’t have any plans” to work for the company, he said.

Asked why he appealed the Planning Commission’s unanimous denial, Thomas responded: “The Planning Commission has been running for City Council for six months. Anything that is controversial they turn down. I didn’t think that Angus, with them running for City Council, was getting a fair shake.”

21 Candidates for Council

Four of the seven planning commissioners are among 21 candidates competing for four City Council seats in the upcoming Nov. 4 election. The four council incumbents whose seats are up for election are barred from running because they have served the maximum two terms allowed by city law.

Planning Commission Chairman Tom N. Livengood, one of four commissioners running for a council seat, said Tuesday that politics did not play a role in his decision.

Livengood said the commission denied the project because it would “put a major industrial use in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

“It was a 7-zip vote. I think that’s a very, very strong statement. It wasn’t just the four people running for office,” Livengood said.

Homeowners unsuccessfully argued that the project was not compatible with their residential neighborhood, which is near the Civic Center, and that the project would bring noise, smells, traffic congestion and a potential for industrial accidents.

“Oil consolidation for the City of Huntington Beach has to be done,” Livengood conceded. “But they picked the worst plot in the world. Basically, the people have been forgotten, and I think it’s sad.”

Consolidation Cited

Thomas disagreed. He called the project a good way to get rid of oil wells peppering plots throughout the city and instead consolidate the wells together in one area.

Under the $25-million plan, Angus will maintain a 24-hour oil operation on the two blocks and must comply with city requirements regulating noise and traffic.

Assistant City Planner Pam Posten said the wells will be surrounded by a 30-foot “acoustical blanket”--a wall designed to reduce noise. After an 18-month drilling operation is completed, each block will be surrounded by an eight-foot-high wall and landscape buffer. The pumping will continue for 20 to 25 years, she said.

Under the plan approved Monday, Angus will set up a $1-million trust fund for residents living within 100 feet of the site to ensure against any erosion of property values the project may cause. About 35 homeowners live within 100 feet of the property and would be eligible for the money, Posten said.

If any homeowners sell their homes within the next three years for less than what the properties were worth before the oil wells’ moving into the neighborhood, they will be reimbursed for the difference from the $1-million trust fund, she said.

‘Divide and Conquer’

At the end of three years, the remaining trust fund balance will be divided three ways--with one-third going to the homeowners, one-third going to Angus and one-third to the city to develop a park within a one-mile radius, she said.

Resident Lynn Moseman called the $1-million trust fund a “divide and conquer” technique since only 35 residents would be eligible for the funds.

More than 400 people signed a petition opposing the project. “We’re sticking together, and we’re united,” said Moseman, who added that residents will confer with an attorney to review whether they have legal options.