Angus Puts Off Plans to Drill for Oil in City

Angus Petroleum has withdrawn a controversial plan to drill up to 60 oil wells in a residential area of Huntington Beach, a $25-million project that had been set for a City Council vote Tuesday.

Instead, Angus plans to return to the city with a new plan. In a letter to the city, Angus Vice President John C. Carmichael wrote, “As a result of citizen input and ongoing engineering studies, we are in the process of incorporating major changes in the project.”

Carmichael, who did not specify the changes, wrote last week that his company would submit a new application to the Planning Commission at a later date.

“So Angus is going to start all over again with the Planning Commission hearings,” Councilman Peter M. Green said Saturday.

The Planning Commission had voted unanimously against Angus’ plan to drill up to 60 oil wells near the intersection of Delaware Street and Springfield Avenue. But in October, then-Councilman John A. Thomas appealed the denial to the City Council, which overturned the commission’s decision on a 4-3 vote.

A group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Huntington Beach filed suit in November against the city and Thomas. The suit alleged that the project was approved without sufficient consideration of its environmental impact and that Thomas had a conflict of interest with Angus Petroleum.

Because Thomas allegedly had business dealings with the company but failed to say so when he voted on the plan, the council last month rescinded approval of the project. The next day, Jan. 6, Angus appealed. The council was scheduled to consider that appeal Tuesday.

In exchange for the maximum of 60 new wells, Angus had agreed to abandon 34 other wells around the city.

The new wells were slated for a two-block area, one bounded by Toronto Avenue, California Street, Springfield Avenue and Huntington Street, the second by Springfield, California, Delaware Street and Rochester Avenue.

Homeowners argued that the project was not compatible with their neighborhood and that the oil wells would bring noise, odors, traffic and a potential for industrial accidents, lowering their property values.