Experts Tell of Explosion Risk at Belmont

Environmental experts who conducted a four-month investigation of the Belmont Learning Complex told the Los Angeles Board of Education Tuesday that the current design for protecting the downtown high school from explosive gas is seriously flawed.

To ensure the safety of students and faculty, a system of pumps and alarms would have to be installed and remain in operation for the life of the school, the environmental consultant said.

John P. Black, senior vice president for Environmental Strategies Corp., told board members that the school can be made safe, but they will have to decide whether the cost is justified.

The firm released a summary of findings from the study Tuesday. Portions of the 3,000-page support documents will be handed out later in the week.

Members of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s environmental safety team told the board they would not comment on the findings until next week, after they have reviewed the laboratory analysis and statistical risk assessment.

The $200-million high school is being constructed on a former oil field at 1st Street and Temple Boulevard. The school board approved the project in 1997 after receiving assurances from district staff that environmental problems were being addressed.

During construction, however, pressure from several legislators and new discoveries of seeping methane gas led to the new evaluation under supervision of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

The most significant problem at the site is the presence of seeping methane that could accumulate underneath buildings and explode.

The report concluded that the methane comes from crude oil deep underground that can never be cleaned up.

The consultant recommended a system of underground collection pipes attached to a pump to suck the oil-field gas out of the ground before it could build up to explosive concentrations.

The current design provides for a plastic membrane below each building to deflect methane and a system of collection pipes but no pump to draw the methane out.