This will mark the first opportunity residents have had to formally assemble since the double-barreled gas invasions, in January in the middle of the night and a week ago Monday just after dawn.
Whether the gas has led to illness, inconvenience or worse, Crest residents are mad.
Mr. Kissel reported that when his neighbors telephoned the agency that many people love to criticize, the Air Quality Management District, they were accorded an entirely different reception, a pleasant one.
AQMD reps visited Culver Crest residents in their homes. They recorded their stories. They promised a solution-oriented response.
‘The AQMD said that if they get enough complaints, they will shut down, or try to shut down, the oil company,” Mr. Kissel said.
Oil drilling beyond the city limits, near West Los Angeles College, is the cause of Culver Crest’s nagging intrusions.
Residents want action. Exactly what can/should be done is more complicated.
At the March meeting of the Board of Directors of the Culver Crest Neighborhood Assn., besieged officials of the drilling company have agreed to sit across the table from them and explore an amicable compromise.
Facing a potential conundrum, Mr. Kissel said it would be difficult for him to cite a role that City Hall could play in this drama since the cause of the invasion is outside of Culver City.
“On the other hand,” he reasoned, “the job of our government is to protect its citizens.”
He said he would tell Jerry Fulwood, the Chief Administrative Officer of Culver City, that “we need to formulate a plan, as a city, to insure that (the drilling company) is being monitored and is in compliance with all rules and regulations. We need to make sure they are taking every measure so that these (invasions) don’t continually plague our community.”
Mr. Kissel is encouraged that the pieces are in place to open a substantive dialogue.
One daunting long-range effect of the gas invasion is the impact on property values.
If/when that happens, there may be a thunderous eruption from residents. They are not given to thunderous eruptions.
“Property values are going to be affected,” said Mr. Kissel, a real estate agent. “Real estate disclosure laws require sellers to disclose any material fact that could affect the purchase of a home. Failure to do so could kill a sale.”
Oil drilling is expected to continue indefinitely. “The drilling behind (nearby) West L.A. College has been going on for three years,” Mr. Kissel said. “As long as high gas prices are sustainable, the company is going to keep drilling. This is why we need to meet with the company. They are not going away. We aren’t, either.”
Not everyone on Culver Crest was affected. “You have to understand the way gas travels,” Mr. Kissel said. “Pockets of gas can be floating in and out. Not every block felt the one in January.”
Could There Be a Shutdown?
Whether any legal action will be initiated against the offending company is not clear yet. “A lot of attorneys live up there on the hill,” Mr. Kissel said. “A temporary restraining order has been mentioned, and this could shut the company down.
“Environmental issues have come up, too. It could be a no-win situation for the company. But I am sure they understand all of that. And they certainly have a lot more money than we have.”
At a recent City Council meeting, the drilling company, the Plains Exploration & Production Co., of Houston and the Fairfax District, characterized the gas invasion as accidental, a harmless event. They said steps were being taken to diminish the likelihood of a recurrence.
“We disagree over the effects on our community,” said Mr. Kissel. “Leaks have happened before, and it’s likely they will again. This is why we need to sit down and discuss solutions.
“PXP is trying to smooth this over as just a onetime occurrence. We know now it wasn’t.”
Last month’s 2 a.m. intrusion was not Mr. Kissel’s first exposure to the smelly gas. Last Nov. 18, he was working at his day job, closing a deal on a record-priced home, when his nose was visited by a suspicious, unfriendly odor. He said he reported his experience to the City Attorney’s office, but no known action has been taken.
“When I smelled the gas in Blair Hills,” Mr. Kissel recalled, “I was extremely concerned. After I drove home to Culver Crest and got out of my car, I smelled it there, too. This was in the late afternoon. A majority of people would not have been home from work yet, and so there was a good chance that it was not noticed.”
On the night of last month’s leak, Mr. Kissel received more than fifty emails from persons around the community, beyond the adjoining neighborhoods of Culver Crest and Sunkist Park, who had encountered the gasses.
A Plan for Healing
In January, Mark Salkin, president of the Neighborhood Association, presented the City Council with an eleven-point Letter of Requests for preventive action that the homeowners hope the city will take:
• “Appoint a knowledgeable staff member who can (a) report to the community and city regarding oil issues, (b) act as a liaison with the oil company, (c) advise on rights and remedies, and (d) warn in advance of upcoming deleterious effects from the oil fields.
• “Place a warning signal to advise when leaks occur.
• “Obtain a compensation plan from the oil company to heal the cost of midnight awakenings, having to vacate our homes, and any resultant illness.
• “Devise a plan to remediate any illnesses arising from, or related to, the release of gasses.
• “Obtain a schedule of what the oil company is doing, when it will begin and end (drilling), and how noisy it will be.
• “Ascertain and enforce a method to alleviate the noise and stop the release of gasses.
• “Provide an educational forum to pass helpful information to the community.
• “Validate a plan we can activate in case of an emergency.
• “Enact a system of enforceable and increasing penalties to prevent the oil companies from violating our neighborhoods.
• “Enforce a method to shut down the oil drilling when it is necessary.
• “Insure that the release of gasses does not continue to affect our neighborhoods and property values, and that the oil companies are held responsible for their intrusions.”
Especially after last week’s storm of fumes that blew through Culver Crest, Mr. Kissel is convinced that PXP is not going to quietly vanish.
“I cannot believe,” he said, “that they would put a million dollars worth of new drilling equipment out there and just cap it off. I think what they are going to do is cap up the one well that is going down into the one pocket (that ignited the January leaks). Then, I think they will continue to drill new pockets.
“At some point, the same problem could repeat. The company cannot absolutely guarantee that it won’t happen again.”
Ask the Crest residents who sniffed the gas again last week.