Residents Rally to Protect Community
- Details
- Category: Community News
- Published on Friday, 07 February 2014 15:03
- Written by Carla Pineda
Freeport - McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc. is one of the largest producers of copper and gold in the world. In 2012 they bought out their oil producing sister company McMoRan Exploration Co. (a 1990's spin off from the main company) and in 2013 bought out Plains Exploration which owned three drill sites in our community on Jefferson, Washington and W. Adams Boulevards. The land of the 2126 W. Adams Murphy drill site (at St. Andrews Place) is currently owned by the Catholic Church. Government officials have listened to the complaints by residents surrounding this Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas (FMOG) location and have ordered it to pause its latest efforts.
Neighbors in the apartment complex directly across from the Murphy Site became alarmed when they were kept awake well into the night by loud construction noises and heavy trucks moving in and out of the site. Other community members surrounding the site believed the site was preparing to use toxic chemicals to extract remaining oil, raising concerns that these chemicals might potentially be entering the groundwater.
The community has a legitimate concern given Freeport-McMoran Copper and Golds checkered history of grievous environmental abuses. From a 2005 New York Times investigation into the company: "Letters and other documents provided to The Times by government officials showed that the Environment Ministry repeatedly warned the company since 1997 that Freeport was breaching environmental laws. They also reveal the ministry's deep frustration." and "A multimillion-dollar 2002 study by an American consulting company, Parametrix, paid for by Freeport and its joint venture partner, Rio Tinto, and not previously made public, noted that the rivers upstream and the wetlands inundated with waste were now "unsuitable for aquatic life." The report was made available to The Times by the Environment Ministry."
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/221/46978.html
Energized members from the community formed the Citizens Of West Adams for Transparency, Common Sense and Health In Natural Gas and Oil Industries Los Angeles (CoWatching Oil LA). They have rallied quickly around their concerns about the potential negative effects of the acidization techniques they believe the Murphy Drill site was getting ready to use. But Hance Myers, Vice President and Corporate Information Director for FMOG denies this method is being used. “We are not using acidization completion techniques on any of the wells at the facility.”
During a gathering at Holman Church the community garnered the support of State Senator Holly Mitchell who impressed many at the meeting with her clear grasp of the issues. She agreed to introduce a bill that bans all well stimulation methods until extensive environmental impacts are studied. Also present was Representative Karen Bass, who committed to working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, to study the site’s health impacts. Council President Herb Wesson, also in attendance, notified the meeting that a suspension on oil drilling at the site had been ordered and he has requested an investigation by several regulatory agencies, including the California Department of Conservation, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The review was requested to ensure that residents near all Los Angeles oil production sites are protected. Both, the city and state, have granted exemptions to oil and gas companies in the past and they lack the regulatory framework to assess fracking and acidizing techniques, according to the January 10 resolution.
FMOG disagrees. “As a general rule, oil operations in California and the L.A. Basin specifically are subject to the strictest regulatory policies over oil and gas production in the nation,” Myers said.
Similar to fracking, a process that extracts natural gas from the earth by drilling a chemical fluid cocktail into fractures thousands of feet below the land surface, acidization unlocks resources by pumping a highly concentrated chemical cocktail into existing wells to dissolve dense rock, release trapped oil and allow it to flow up through the well.
According to the San Francisco Lawyer Blog writer Greogory J. Bord “Hydrofluoric acid, the particular acid used in acidizing, is highly corrosive, capable of breaking down steel as well as rock, and it can also damage lungs and cause serious burns to the skin. When hydrofluoric acid exceeds 67 degrees it forms a vapor cloud that lingers near the ground, according to energy experts. A high-profile example of the deadly nature of the acid arose last September, when a hydrofluoric acid accident at a South Korean chemical plant killed five people.” And “While state officials say they are not aware of any serious accidents involving the use of hydrofluoric acid as an acidizing agent to extract petroleum in California and there have been no recorded incidents of the acid seeping into groundwater, lawmakers in Sacramento are moving to include acidizing in legislation to regulate fracking. More specifically, the bill would require oil companies to secure permits for acidizing as well as fracking of wells, and it would authorize a study of the potential environmental perils of the two extractive techniques.”
Myers claims "the use of any chemicals at FMOG sites is controlled, performed by trained personnel, and the quantity is comparable to the amount found in household cleaning products". This was confirmed during a discussion with a local geologist who preferred to remain anonymous for this report.
In November, the oil company reported a leak that caused brine water to collect at the intersection of La Cienega Boulevard and Blackwater Street. Although a number of local and state agencies responded and determined the liquid never entered the flood control channel and the company cleaned up the spill, Councilmember Paul Koretz ordered an investigation on the event and its risks.
CoWatching Oil LA would like the site to shut down, but if FMOG does not move out, they are requesting that the oil company maintains a dialogue with neighbors and provides them with information about activity on the Murphy Drill site via regular, public meetings, websites and bulletin boards that inform and address community concerns. The group also requests FMOG provides air emissions, water safety, and contingency plan reports in addition to transparency about the government entities that have received funding from Freeport. FMOG responded it is committed to engaging with all communities where it operates and contributing to local charitable programs.
FMOG has complied with the more than 15 inspections in the past three weeks and no issues have been identified in the assessment of approximately 3,500 potential leak points, according to Myers.
“The results of the recent inspections are the best proof that the site is being operated in proper compliance with the law and does not present any sort of risk to the community. “
The site, active as an oil production facility since the 1960s, has produced less than half of the oil that is available. The recent drilling was approved in 2007 and included consultation with the local neighborhood council, Myers said.
The state is placing a greater emphasis on regulating these oil and gas production projects to ensure public safety. On January 1, the state Conservation Department established an emergency regulation that requires oil and gas operators to test the effects and notify the public before beginning an oil stimulation project. This is an interim rule until a more comprehensive Senate Bill 4 goes into effect in 2015 and requires operators to obtain a State permit before any well stimulation occurs. According to the Los Angeles Building and Safety website, the Murphy site has not gotten the L.A. building and safety permits required to do the work they are doing.
FMOG, which operates five facilities in Los Angeles, including the Inglewood Oilfield in Baldwin Hills, has opened a 24-hour toll-free phone number for residents to log any complaints at (800) 766-4108. For a more detailed article read the excellent "West Adams Oil Blues" by Leslie Evans in collaboration with Michael Salman at http://boryanabooks.com/?p=4250
Photos by Dawn Kirkpatrick