Drilling down into oil safety
Dear ER:
I’ve known John Szot for years. We don’t often agree on what makes the world go ’round, but I’ve respected his intelligence, candor, and willingness to point out when the emperor is naked. Recently, however, his enthusiasm for all things oil and gas has caused him to be less thoughtful when setting forth his opinions than he has been in the past
Take for example his recent letter to the editor about the “harmless” nature of an “oil island . . . across the street from Cedars Sinai Hospital” (“A logic question for oil opponents,” ER Letters August 28, 2012).
I believe he’s referring to the San Vicente Drill Site, adjacent to the Beverly Center and across from the Cedars Sinai Hospital at 8700 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. It sits on the Salt Lake Oil Field, the same oil field that produced the 1985 Ross Dress for Less explosion at 6200 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, which injured 23 people, blew the roof off the Ross store, and caused Congressman Henry Waxman to call for rerouting the Metro Subway Line. “Potentially dangerous,” the Congressman said.
A short, five minute drive separates Cedars Sinai Hospital from the site of the Ross Dress For Less explosion.
I can’t say what was in the minds of the people who built Cedars Sinai. Nor can Szot. What I can say, and what the evidence supports in this case, is that oil and gas drilling in densely populated urban areas is not “harmless.” It’s dangerous to life, limb, and property.
For a technical account of the Ross explosion see “Cause of the 1985 Ross Store Explosion and Other Ventings, Fairfax District, Los Angeles” by Douglas Hamilton and Richard Meehan. For the gory details go to youtube.com/watch?v=97wKS-wIH2k
George Schmeltzer
Hermosa Beach
Time to pay up
Dear ER:
I have heard some residents questioning the logic of Hermosa Beach and E&B Natural Resources entering into a 35 year contract, should the oil ban be lifted. The length of a contract between two parties is determined by capital investment on the part of the applicant, in return for certain guarantees by the property owner. With over $200 million in infrastructure, E&B needs the assurance that they can complete the goals of their project. Recovering the expected resources from Hermosa’s uplands and tidelands. Hermosa Beach needs the assurance that they will, in turn, receive substantial income streams and benefits over this duration.
Agreements, by definition, involve the needs of both parties. I want to make sure the needs of my city, Hermosa Beach, are in a tough, enforceable contract for as long as possible.
Martha Logan
Hermosa Beach
Perk up Pier Plaza
Dear ER:
As a downtown business owner, I applaud the Hermosa Beach Chamber’s idea of moving the Farmer’s Market to Pier Plaza. We have a beautiful plaza, street and parking structure and an incredible beach just steps away. Why not let locals and visitors enjoy a Farmer’s Market on the Plaza, where the parents can shop, kids can play and everyone can enjoy fresh produce and handmade items?
Offering a downtown Farmer’s Market exposes people to our great little city and the businesses that make up the downtown area. The Plaza is not just for patrons using the bars/restaurants but is an outdoor area that is picture perfect for an updated Farmer’s Market.
Rick Hankus, Java Man Coffeehouse
Hermosa Beach
A better neighbor
Dear ER:
In response to Chevron’s full page “Proud to be your Neighbors in the Beach Cities,” I thank Chevron for its support of our community. At the same time, it is disheartening to learn that Chevron is scaling back its commitment to renewable energy (source: Bloomberg), which suggests that the company wants consumers to remain dependent on fossil fuels rather than working toward creating cleaner solutions. One of those solutions is keeping transportation fuels regulated under California’s groundbreaking climate law, AB 32. Chevron has spent more than $14 million since 2009 lobbying in California to derail clean air standards, including AB 32. Its top lobbyist, Western States Petroleum Association has spent another $25 million lobbying against those same policies (source: CA Secretary of State).
It is wonderful that Chevron supports the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden, one of the treasures of the South Bay, with its drought-tolerant plants and landscape. But being a good neighbor also means addressing the underlying cause of increased droughts in California – climate change. I urge Chevron, and any other oil companies making investments in my community, to stop resisting implementation of AB 32, an eight-year old law that voters support, and instead make every effort to reduce its greenhouse emissions and other pollution.
Jane Affonso
Redondo Beach
Two signature gathers walk into a market…
Dear ER:
Ran into my first AES signature gatherers today — two young guys aggressively approaching everyone entering and exiting a Redondo grocery store. Their opening pitch? “We’re just trying to get some affordable housing built in Redondo Beach!”
Not even thinking this could be the AES initiative, I paused to ask, “Whose proposal is it?” This elicited an unknowing shrug. I spotted the “Harbor Village” heading and burst out laughing.
These were hired college students who had clearly not just been misled by their employer AES. They were quite interested in the more accurate explanation of the AES initiative I respectfully offered.
Their open-eyed interest turned to heads dropped in shame. One even grabbed his cell phone and proclaimed, “I’m gonna have a serious talk with my boss – this isn’t right.”
Redondo voters, please invest the time to independently understand what the AES ‘Harbor Village’ initiative is, and is not, before signing the petition to place it on your ballot.
Gerry O’Connor
Manhattan Beach
Gage closed
Dear ER:
The AVP Manhattan Beach Volleyball Open without Matt Gage under his big straw hat running the board? You can’t be serious.
Bette Mower
by email
Editor’s note: Matt Gage was the long time AVP tournament director.
Better than baby oil
Dear ER:
On March 3, Hermosa Beach residents will have an opportunity to vote yes or no on a proposed oil drilling project at the City Yard. Besides earning hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue for the city, there is another huge benefit to this project — a cleaner ocean. That sticky, black tar that shows up in clumps on the shoreline and often ends up on the bottom of your feet is oil. It is found naturally beneath the ocean floor. They are a natural geological occurrence and are not caused by any human activity. The oil comes up through cracks in the ocean floor and washes ashore.
Drilling for oil will essentially suck up all that oil from underneath the ocean floor. We now have another benefit to the proposed oil recovery project here in Hermosa Beach — a cleaner ocean. Who can argue with that?
Lorie Armendariz
Hermosa Beach
Mutually exclusive developments
Dear ER:
I bought my first boat and a house in Redondo in the mid ‘70s and have lived in District 2 near Dive N’ Surf for over 20 years. Few things bother me as much as the proposed development at the Pier and AES locations. Former mayor Mike Gin and former councilman Chris Cagle wrote over 25 column inches pushing over-development at the AES site (“Support needed for pan to rid city of power plant,” ER August 14, 2014). On the two following pages were a color ad for the over-development in ‘King Harbor’ by CenterCal. Who else is sane enough to realize that these proposed developments are mutually exclusive?
I missed the February meetings to discuss an unfeasible boat ramp paid for by the citizens of Redondo and not CenterCal, as was originally promised. And what does 30 years free rent vs. a 10 percent ROI really mean? Please local people, start drilling your public officials for details rather than hot air and campaign slogans. Hermosa and Catalina Avenues, Harbor Drive, Torrance Boulevard, and Beryl and Herondo streets cannot possibly handle the traffic necessary to make both these developments viable. Why can’t Redondo’s current mayor and city council do some proactive planning for the benefit of our local residents? Why veto input from those same residents?
Dan Buck
Redondo Beach
Bringing down the roof
Dear Editor:
Hermosa Beach’s commercial downtown has long-needed a four-foot height-reduction measure, from 30-feet to 26-feet, similar to Manhattan Beach’s downtown 26-foot limit.
Developers are squeaking in overly-dense, out-of-scale, poorly-parked, architecturally sterile designs for Hermosa’s downtown, due to its 30-foot height limit. They’re proposing three or more stories for parcels where two-story architectural designs are more appropriate.
This happened with the 96-unit Beach House condo-hotel at 14th Street and The Strand and more recently with the big-box Clash Hotel approval for 15th and Hermosa Avenues. These two unremarkable hotels are being followed by the even more maxed-out and under-parked Mermaid-properties hotel, the Mangurian estate-properties hotel along 11th Street and the Strand, and a likely Sea Sprite properties hotel on the Strand.
Manhattan has one 38-room, two-story hotel (the Shade) in its downtown. Hermosa already has 160 downtown hotel rooms operating or approved. The Mermaid developer is proposing to increase that total to 271.
With the Mangurian and Sea Sprite estate properties developed, the number of room-units could escalate to 480, some 13 times the number in Manhattan’s downtown. They would bring over 1,000 hotel guests and workers, traveling in and out of Hermosa’s downtown 24/7, increasing late-night bars activity, trolling for taxicabs, and creating parking headaches and additional residential impacts.
To preserve the character of Hermosa Beach there needs to be a coherent plan, ensuring an appropriate mix of properly-scaled developments and uses, along with a 26-foot downtown height limit.
Howard Longacre
Hermosa Beach
If he’s so sharp…
Dear ER:
Andre Sharp acknowledges that oil production has rewards (“Blown away,” ER Letters, August 21, 2014). He then goes on to say it also has risks. He is correct. Virtually all human activity is based on a risk vs reward calculation. He then contends that the risks in producing oil in Hermosa Beach include: more earthquakes, increased truck traffic, oil spills, increased cancer rates among Hermosa residents and finally explosions and fires. Two lengthy, detailed, peer-reviewed, scientifically-based, city-contracted studies — the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) — each investigated these risks and found none of them likely to occur (especially given the extensive, state-of-the-art mitigation measures to be used by E&B) and therefore not significant. If Sharp has verifiable evidence to the contrary all of us Hermosa residents would very much like to see it.
Jim Sullivan
Hermosa Beach
Dear ER:
The simple question I asked myself when looking into the move of the Hermosa Beach Farmers Market is, “If we started the market today, where would we put it?” The answer seems clear. Our beautiful Pier Plaza is the centerpiece of town and the obvious choice. We have fallen behind in the quality and energy of our Farmers Market compared to neighboring cities. A move to Pier Plaza will breathe new life into the market, bring locals to the Plaza during the daytime and be a big positive to for Hermosa Beach.
Andrea Jacobsson
