Methane Gas Is Focus of Latest Playa Vista Battle

The extent of underground methane gas has become the latest debating point in the long-running dispute between developers of the Playa Vista complex and a band of tenacious opponents.

Developers of the 1,000-acre commercial and residential development acknowledged Tuesday that methane exists beneath the sprawling Westside construction site in Playa del Rey, but insisted that the naturally occurring gas poses no health or safety risk. Citing the recommendation of a study commissioned by the city of Los Angeles, project officials said the construction of a network of gas vents would prevent accidental explosions at the site, which could one day have 30,000 residents.

However, a group of project opponents announced Tuesday that they had filed a lawsuit seeking to stop or at least delay construction because of alleged gas dangers. Gathered on a high bluff overlooking the early stages of Playa Vista construction, those opponents demanded that work be halted until the city performs a more detailed study of the methane issue.

Among other accusations, opponents said that Playa Vista officials failed to accurately describe the extent of methane gas when applying to the city for construction permits in the early 1990s. Opponents say that the gas has caused several eruptions at the construction site. Development officials characterized the suit as one in a series of frivolous legal challenges, a characterization that project critics resent. Opponents want to keep the tract, which includes a portion of a former Hughes Aircraft facility, as open space and have challenged the project on several fronts, including its impact on the Ballona Wetlands.

David Herbst, a Playa Vista vice president, said that methane gas did burst from the ground while investigators drilled monitoring wells during the recent study, but that the episodes have been exaggerated by opponents.

“The fact is, we’ve done more methane testing at this site than anywhere else in Los Angeles and this report says it can be mitigated,” Herbst said. “This is just another attempt to block much needed housing on the Westside of Los Angeles.”

Herbst also said that methane gas exists under much of Los Angeles, and that the Playa Vista site is by no means unusual.

The opponents’ lawsuit was filed by three environmental groups--Grassroots Coalition, Earthways Foundation and Spirit of the Sage Council--and focuses also on a nearby gas storage facility owned by Southern California Gas Co. The storage site, where natural gas is pumped deep into the cavities of a former oil field, is roughly one half mile from Playa Vista.

Rosemary Woodlock, the environmental groups’ lawyer, said that gas was leaking from storage pockets and filtering up through the Playa Vista property.

Neighbors of the storage facility earlier this year filed a class action suit against the gas company, saying that they were poisoned by the gas. On Tuesday, gas company representative Sharon O’Rourke denied claims that the storage site was leaking.