Another Delay in the Long Battle to Allow Oil Drilling in Hermosa

A bitterly contested, 6-year-old plan to allow oil drilling in Hermosa Beach stalled again Tuesday, when the City Council delayed voting on a consultant’s report detailing the project’s environmental impact.

The report--which recommended that any operation be conducted only from the walled-in city maintenance yard--found no serious noise, traffic or pollution problems that could not be rectified through the use of insulation and high technology mitigation measures.

But the council, at the behest of Mayor Roger Creighton and council members Chuck Sheldon and Kathleen Midstokke, delayed a certification vote until May 8 because they want more information on the amount of noise the project might generate at night.

The decision, which drew applause from a roomful of drilling opponents, was the latest move in a drawn-out debate that has persisted in Hermosa Beach since 1984. At issue is whether the much-needed revenue from Hermosa Beach’s share of the Wilmington-Torrance oil field is worth the environmental price that some claim the beach community will pay.

During the 1930s, several wells were drilled in Hermosa Beach, but the noise and fumes prompted the city to ban drilling in 1932. By 1984, however, the city found itself with a limited tax base and little cash. Voters, hoping to raise money to repair the city’s crumbling infrastructure, passed a pair of initiatives permitting drilling at the city maintenance yard at Valley Drive and 6th Street and at the site of the now-defunct South School a block away.

But as the city began to explore the idea--hiring consultants, commissioning studies, contracting with an oil recovery company--the prospect of oil rigs rising again in Hermosa Beach stirred renewed resistance.

Neighbors of the proposed project argued that heavy industry in the cramped beach town was a bad idea and would congest the narrow streets with truck traffic and create pollution and noise. Critics said a 15-story oil rig would block views and that the operation would devalue homes near the old South School, which was to be turned into an area for oil processing and storage.

Opponents also questioned whether the withdrawal of oil from underground wells would create subsidence, as some claim it has done in Redondo Beach.

Recent engineering studies done in that city’s King Harbor in the wake of the 1988 storms showed that the breakwater was two to three feet lower than it was supposed to have been, according to its original plans. Some attribute the discrepancy to incorrect survey figures, but others--including an expert on subsidence who testified Tuesday on the Hermosa Beach plan--say the harbor is slowly sinking because the oil reservoirs beneath it are being depleted.

Hermosa Beach’s environmental impact report, drawn up for the city by Irvine-based Ultrasystems Inc., disputed those criticisms, although the authors, along with the Planning Commission and city staff, have recommended consolidating the two operations at the city’s maintenance yard, which already is buffered from neighboring homes.

The report estimates that traffic to and from the sites, via Pier Avenue, Valley Drive and Pacific Coast Highway, would increase by only 1% or 2%, and noise and pollution would be minimal because the pumps would run on electricity and would be well-insulated. The oil rig, the report said, would be tall, but not as imposing or bulky as a building the same height, and property values would increase because the drilling operation would enrich the city overall.

Subsidence, if it occurred, could be easily corrected by the injection of water into underground tables to replace the oil taken out, said Dennis Allen, an Ultrasystems geologist specializing in subsidence.

Any remaining concerns, city staffers said, could be addressed by the council when it draws up the conditions under which the drilling company, Santa Monica-based Macpherson Oil Co., would be able to operate in Hermosa Beach.

Nonetheless, only one person spoke in favor of oil drilling Tuesday: longtime resident Wilma Burt, who urged the council to “get off your duffs and get some money.”

The remainder of the more than two hours of public testimony focused on the longstanding concerns about noise, pollution and traffic and the still-disputed matter of how much money oil drilling can generate for Hermosa Beach.

Don Macpherson, president of the oil company, estimates the operation will generate about $62 million for the city over the next 35 years. But critics of the project say that figure is inflated, and estimates vary as to how much oil is available to be pumped out.

The environmental impact certification is only one of more than 30 hurdles the project must clear before oil drilling can occur.