Huntington Beach Allows 45 Oil Wells in Residential Area

The Huntington Beach City Council early Tuesday passed a plan by Angus Petroleum Corp. to remove 30 oil wells throughout the city and consolidate 45 new ones in a residential tract, despite 2 years of opposition from neighbors around the site.

More than 40 residents, almost evenly divided for and against the project, spoke before the council during a 3-hour hearing that ended at 12:20 a.m.

Opponents, most of whom live around the two-block site, argued that environmental studies were inadequate and said the operation may be unsafe as well as unsightly, noisy and inappropriate in a residential tract.

Supporters of the Angus plan said that, rather than allow wells to be scattered, the city should concentrate them at one site for safety and aesthetic reasons and to improve prospects for developing the original sites of the wells. They argued that the new wells will produce several times more oil than the old ones, thus generating more money for the city.

Council members voted 5 to 2 to grant Angus the zone change and permits necessary to drill new wells on its land near the intersection of Springfield Avenue and California Street.

Mayor John Erskine and council members Wes Bannister, Jack Kelly, Peter Green and Tom Mays voted for the project; council members Ruth Finley and Grace Winchell opposed it.

Angus officials said they will resume work at the site after Jan. 1 and begin drilling perhaps in the summer.

The plan calls for Angus to abandon 30 wells at several different locations around the city and concentrate the drilling at the one site, which will be surrounded by landscaping and walls to reduce its intrusion on the neighborhood.

Scattered around Huntington Beach are scores of wells. Some are decades old, reminders of the city’s past as an oil boom town. They have become part of the residential landscape in older parts of the city, but they are also found in newer, swankier developments such as the Seacliff neighborhood.

Tuesday’s vote was the second time the City Council has approved the firm’s $25-million project. The company first received permits in 1986 but was sued by a group called Concerned Citizens of Huntington Beach. Earlier this year, Angus agreed to relinquish those permits as part of an out-of-court settlement of that suit.

Even before Monday night’s meeting, Pamela Steele, president of Concerned Citizens, said the group “has consulted with our attorney, and we will pursue a lawsuit again.” The attorney “seems to think we have grounds,” she added.

One of the grounds for the earlier suit was the yes vote for the project by then-Councilman John A. Thomas. Opponents accused him of a conflict of interest because his hauling firm had done work at the Angus site. Thomas refused comment. Although the state Fair Political Practices Commission cleared Thomas of any wrongdoing earlier this year, Angus had already conceded that Thomas had done the subcontracting work.

Angus and opponents settled the lawsuit out of court in May. Angus agreed to relinquish what city permits it already had obtained in exchange for dismissal of the suit. Angus then reapplied for approval of the project.

On Oct. 18 the Huntington Beach Planning Commission approved the firm’s new application for a permit to drill up to 48 wells on the land.

Appeals of that decision were filed by Councilwoman Winchell and Concerned Citizens, forcing the City Council to decide the matter Monday night.

Spencer Sheldon, a longtime consultant and lobbyist for Angus, opened the public hearing by assuring the City Council that the project is not only safe but will, it is hoped, become “a model and standard for future consolidation” projects in the downtown redevelopment area, as well as the Old Towne neighborhood.

“The Concerned Citizens don’t oppose consolidation,” Sheldon said, “they just want it done somewhere else. . . . We are not asking for anything that hasn’t been done before elsewhere in the city.”

Sheldon added that the city has 52 active permits for drilling operations and that many of them are near homes.

“We need to protect all residential neighborhoods,” said Donna Klein, a director of Huntington Beach Tomorrow, a community group with several hundred members.

She said many of the residents of homes surrounding the drilling site had been there 20 years or so when Angus purchased its property in the 1980s. “Whose property rights are you going to protect?” she asked the council.