I don’t live in Hermosa Beach. So, I am interested, but not personally involved with the financial impact that choosing either oil drilling solution will bring. For all the blustering, it seems to me that both alternatives are problematic.
With plunging oil prices, all previous projections need to be tossed out the window. Anyone who says they can project more than six months into the future is blowing smoke you-know-where. So, how can one plan 35 years into the future.
If the vote is no, then the city is on the hook for a lot of money, which it can borrow at relatively low interest rates. It has a good credit rating, but the amount needed to be financed does limit the flexibility of the city to borrow for other things it may need.
But, what I worry about most are the “unintended consequences” that seem to accompany every major project, whether in the private of public sectors.
For those of you who recall the wave damage that preceded the fire which delivered the coup de grace to the Redondo horseshoe pier in 1988, the determined reason for it was subsidence in the ocean floor cause by oil extraction. The breakwater was lowered by it and the rogue waves that came passed unstopped.
From my perch as a nearby viewer, the notion that only Hermosa will see any impact from the drilling is ludicrous. We are far too “cheek-by-jowl” to think any city is an island amidst the sprawl.
Thus, when I look at the proposed E&B project, it is not about the finances, but about what will happen that no one has either taken into consideration or decided to speak about.
According to E&B, there will be no fracking involved with their project. In areas of the country where this oil extraction technique is being used, the number of earthquakes has increased dramatically, far surpassing California in their number and intensity.
Over the past few years, new faults have been discovered just offshore from the Beach Cities and there have been signs of increasing activity. Should a change in the fragile underground infrastructure occur from this drilling, the impact will not be limited to Hermosa Beach.
From a more practical perspective. The result of all this oil drilling must be moved somewhere. The trucks that will carry this crude oil must, by definition, be transporting this cargo on city streets. Main arteries, such as PCH and Artesia Boulevard, mostly not in Hermosa Beach, must be used to get the oil on its way to its destination. These already crowded streets provide an additional opportunity for problems in neighboring cities.
The people of Hermosa Beach have to look outside their city as well as contend with the natty issues of finances and local pollution. They have the health and welfare of a lot of other people to consider when casting a vote.
Our cities haven’t always been good at this regional view. They have all made local decisions without considering the others. The time to stop that has long since passed. Hermosa should show the way and reject oil drilling for the sake of everyone.
