CommentsCRUDE POLITICS--The smell of crude oil pervaded the air. “Sandbags, and a cleanup crew actively power-washed the oil off Court Street for over 24 hours,” said a resident.
Last year on December 30th, there was a significant oil spill within the boundaries the Los Angeles City Oil Field residential community or the City Central West, Specific Plan.
The Field is considered to be the birthplace of Los Angeles' oil industry. “There was a land boom in 1887 and since there were no regulations in California on well spacing at this time, well crowding was extreme. The town lots were often only 50' by 150' [presently, a common standard], and sometimes contained as many as four wells. The Manley Oil Company operated out of his residence at Rockwood Street near Glendale Blvd that operated well throughout the neighborhood from its founding in 1886”, http://historicplacesla.org.
Crude oil spilt out of the ground from across the rear alley while the AllenCo (oil drilling company) was capping an oil well at the Colton Apartments Project, Aragon Properties. The crude took its course, out from the asphalt cracks in the rear parking area of a 10-unit residential apartment. The two-story tenant-occupied structure built in 1968 sits atop three oil wells that are on opposite edges of the lot, according to city mappings. Two are buried and idle while one has been abandoned in compliance with the code, per public documents of the Division of Gas and Geothermal Resources, (DOGGR, Division).
The oil poured into the apartment’s drainage system then out, and down Toluca Street. It traced the hillside slope eastward on Court Street and ran for about a thousand feet to the nearest rain-capture drain on Boylston Street.
Two months later, on Thursday, February 20, City Council District 1 held a public town hall meeting at the Echo Park Community Center. First responders provided brief reports about when they arrived at the site of the oil spill and engaged in a question-and- answer period with the residents.
The officials present identified the oil spill as having occurred on December 18, 2019 at about 4 p.m. and having come out from a rear parking area of a residential apartment at 220 N. Toluca Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026.
California Geologic Energy Management Division (Cal GEM), Chris McCullough Environmental Facilities and Field Surveillance Operations Manager, said that on the day of the spill residents contacted him to provide information on the incident. He let them know that he was not a first responder but would be there after they had secured the safety of the site.
The oil spill was a result of a re-abandoned oil well operation, taking place in the construction site at Colton Properties across the alley from 220 Toluca Street. The AllenCo was installing new plugs on a previously plugged oil well to make it safe. “At halfway the oil began surfacing using another old well that has not been capped,” said McCullough.
The LA Co Fire Dep. Health Hazardous Material Division, Watershed Protection Captain reported that on December 18, starting at about 4:00 p.m. Watershed Protection teams were on site, investigated the incident and monitored the cleanup operation of the oil spill carried out by Patriot Environmental. There were 3 different Watershed teams released throughout the entire operation. “They worked that afternoon, and all through the night and the next day,” said the Captain.
“The oil ran down onto the public right-of-way for about 1,400 feet. The volume of the crude oil released was 42 gallons, and about 1 to 5 gallons entered the storm drain,” said the Captain.
Department has opened an investigation and will write a report on the incident to submit to the City Attorney. “We should be finished with the report in about 3 months, though we have a year for its completion,” she said.
Division records of the proposed project applications regarding the Colton Apartments and Court Apartments (Aragon Properties), acknowledged the locations to be within the boundaries of the Los Angeles City oil field. Also, maps include the number of gas and oil wells on each property encompassing three parcels of land. Both proposed developments have the same descriptive height, density and underground parking: A six-story apartment building with 60-residential units and two-level subterranean parking on undeveloped land [Though records show buried oil fields of prior owner Manley Oil Company]. The proposed projects are almost across the street from each other fronting Toluca Street.
Within the Colton Property boundary, there are five known oil and gas wells previously owned by the Manley Oil Company (MOC). The five wells are not abandoned consistent with Division requirements. They are buried and idle with surface plugs not present. Each well is identified with the initials MOC and a number, and then an eight-digit serial number.
In 2003 a report of Property and Well Transfer was issued listing ten wells on the Colton Property. Then in 2004, MOC 6 in its abandonment operations was dug deep below grade and “filled with cement at 210 feet to the surface.” Records show some oil wells can be as deep as plus/minus 1,000 feet. Though MOC 6 met the standard approval of date and the well was reported not leaking, as of 12/18/18, MOC 6 shows not to be in compliance with Division standards.
Similarly, the Court Property has 7 major oil wells, but only one significant oil well. MOC 4 was plugged and abandoned as of December 18, 2018 consistent with current code. Division notes that MOC 4 is “projected to be built over or to have future access impeded” and impeding access to a well could result in the Division’s need to remove any structure or obstacle that prevents sufficient access for well servicing: including, but not limited to buildings, housing, fencing, etc.
Out of the remaining 6 wells at the Court Property, five are buried-idle and are missing various essential underground plugs while the sixth oil well (MOC 5) has two inadequate plugs. The Division expects these wells to be abandoned or re-abandoned in compliance with current Division requirements prior to development.
Similarly, the development in the background of the photo displayed above, is a six-story, 54-unit apartment under construction over three parcels of land. It is mid-way from the start and end of the oil spilling, where oil traveled from Toluca to Boylston Streets.
Consistent with the previous developments, this site is also located within the boundaries of the Los Angeles Oil Field and sits above three wells. One out of the three has been plugged (at 913 feet) and abandoned in 2006 by Division standards.
http://zimas.lacity.org
The peak year for the Los Angeles City oil field was 1901, during which time 1,150 active wells pumped over 1.8 million barrels within the Temple-Beaudry area covering 4-miles by a half-mile across. Over 200 separate companies were in operation on the field at this time,
(Connie Acosta is writer and co-chair of the Planning and Land Use Committee of the Echo Park Neighborhood Council, and Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates)
-cw
