Odor Tied to Capped Oil Well in South L.A.

The source of a bad odor first noticed Wednesday from the South Bay coast to Redlands was identified Thursday as a methane and hydrogen sulfide buildup that breached a capped oil well in South Los Angeles.

After evacuating residents of 114 apartments for the second day in a row, county hazard specialists said they ordered Geo Petroleum, which owns the well, to remove about 1,000 square feet of contaminated earth and burn off any residue of gaseous liquids.

By late afternoon Thursday, everyone was back in their homes.

Harold Johnson, a worker at the Gateway City Lights Apartments near El Segundo Boulevard and the Harbor Freeway, said that at the height of the emissions, smoke detectors went off in the apartments, and some residents took their children who felt ill to hospital emergency rooms.

Nosa Omoruyi, a senior hazardous materials specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said that although the well had been capped and out of use for some time, pockets of gas had accumulated gradually in what he called “the well cellar,” until pressure amounted to about 400 pounds per square inch.

Recent rains, he said, may have raised the water table, compressing the gas toward the surface, and on Wednesday it burst through the capped well. Winds then carried the odor long distances.

Hydrogen sulfide in large amounts can be dangerous, Omoruyi said.

But in this case, it was mixed with other petroleum gases and never achieved dangerous concentrations for breathing or perhaps fire, he said.

Some soccer players in nearby Athens Park, however, reported headaches, and apartment residents next to the Geo Petroleum property felt ill.

Because of fears of a terrorist attack, there was a full response by police, fire, air-quality and other officials.

Omoruyi said that in addition to discovering the underground gas buildup, hazard specialists had found some mercury contamination, and that too would be cleaned up.