Inglewood Oil Field Issues Linger Despite Summer Settlement

Editor's note: In partnership with Spot.us, the community-funded journalism initiative, Patch examined the history of the oil field and its continuing effects on its neighbors. This is the first of two installments, the second of which runs Thursday on Culver City Patch. We invite readers to join the discussion in the comments box below and add their perspectives and experiences to the conversation.

Mim Shapiro was a newlywed the day she moved into her custom-built Culver City home in 1954. Her husband, Hank, had just landed a job with a local engineering firm and the young couple decided to lay down roots in a cozy neighborhood near the Inglewood Oil Field.

As construction on the house neared completion, a representative from Chevron, which operated the field at the time, approached Shapiro asking to purchase the family’s mineral rights for $10.

With money tight, Shapiro agreed, not realizing that doing so would give Chevron the right to drill directly underneath her home without having to share the profits from any oil unearthed. The agreement would also give the company the right to seize the property under imminent domain, legal provisions that allow the taking of private land.

”I didn’t think there were going to be any problems,” Shapiro said. For decades, there were none.

But in 2006, Chevron’s successor, the Plains Exploration and Production Co., began drilling in the oil field in earnest. employed a harsh drilling method that involved powerful equipment boring holes thousands of feet into the ground and applying pressure to push any oil up to the surface.

Shapiro noticed little things at first.

“All the windows in the back bedrooms had water damage,” she said. “Our back screen suddenly didn’t fit.” Then a large crack appeared along the molding in the back bedroom. A similar crack materialized in the kitchen and eventually ran into the entry hall.

Though the Shapiros didn’t know it at the time, the drilling method PXP used—called high-pressure gravel packing and considered a type of fracking—had caused the foundation of the Shapiro family home to shift. Water also had leaked from the ground and made its way into the window of the couple’s back bedroom.

The Shapiros attributed the damage not to the drilling but to their aging home at first, and spent tens of thousands of dollars on repairs. The couple thought they had put their problems behind them.

But when the damage reappeared in 2009, the couple connected the issues with their home to PXP’s drilling methods, and asked the company to cover the cost of repairs. Although it sent out a community liaison to survey the damage, PXP has not compensated the Shapiros to date. The issues remain unresolved.

Also unsettled are suspicions the oil field operations have contributed to the health problems of nearby residents.  Some of those concerns could be put to rest or stirred anew when the second phase of a Los Angeles county health study surveying the neighbors’ medical well-being is released this fall.

LONG, TORTUOUS ROAD

PXP’s drilling method stands at the center of a 2.5-year-long battle with Culver City and various environmental and community groups.

A brought by environmental groups was settled in June after California Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ordered the parties to resolve their issues or go to trial.

The suit centered on whether the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District, the name given to the rules that govern field operations, violated the California Environmental Quality Act  (CEQUA) by failing to protect the environment and the health of residents in surrounding neighborhoods.

The suit has cost the Culver City government $1.3 million, making it one of the most expensive CEQUA litigations in the city’s history. Los Angeles County has spent $143,000 to date. 

While the worst of the legal battle may be history, rifts must be closed in order to move forward.

“We’ve been in litigation for almost three years,” said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Damon Nagami before the suit's end. “We’re going to need to do some bridge-building no matter what.”

NEW TECH, MORE DRILLING

Nestled deep in the Los Angeles Basin and surrounded by bucolic hillsides, Baldwin Hills remained largely undeveloped until the 1940s, when the first homes there were built.

By the late 1950s and early 1960s, wealthy African-Americans—shut out of other exclusive communities favored by rich Angelenos—began moving into the area.

The Watts riots of 1965 sealed Baldwin Hills' place as the heart of affluent black Los Angeles as African-Americans who could afford to do so fled the inner city in droves. The 1970 census showed that 57 percent of blacks in Baldwin Hills had lived in the central city during the riots.

The area remains a paradigm of racial diversity with around 32,000 residents; roughly 60 percent of the population is white, 10 percent African-American, 23 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Asian, according to the 2010 census. Staunchly middle class, the median household income hovers around $60,000 according to Culver City’s statistics.

Baldwin Hills is the primary location of one of the largest contiguous urban oil fields in the United States, the Inglewood Oil Field.

Inglewood spans approximately 1,000 acres. While largely situated in Baldwin Hills, the field is bisected by La Cienega Boulevard, north of Slauson Avenue. Its boundaries encompass the cities of Los Angeles and Culver City, as well as the West Los Angeles Community College campus and the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. Surrounding communities include Culver Crest, Ladera Heights, Blair Hills and Windsor Hills.

The Standard Oil Company of California Los Angeles began drilling in the field in 1924 following the “Black Gold” rush. The influx of people caused Los Angeles’ population to double between 1890 and 1900, then triple between 1900 and 1910. More than 1,600 wells have been drilled within the Inglewood Oil Field’s boundaries since its creation.

Until 2004, it seemed oil drilling was just about over in Baldwin Hills. Residents had even approved a bond to purchase several parcels of land encompassing the oil field to turn into a two-square-mile park that would be linked by a bridge over La Cienega Boulevard.

However, using newly developed three-dimensional imaging, PXP discovered fresh oil and water injection sites, which would allow the company to collect oil in remote spots. In 2003, PXP unearthed a mostly untapped oil and gas reservoir underneath Culver City extending out to Venice Boulevard.

Two years later, the company applied for permission from Culver City to drill six more wells under and several single-family homes in the area. Drilling skyrocketed between 2005 and 2006, the most active drilling years in the field’s history. Throughout this period, residents constantly complained that the increased drilling produced relentless, unbearable noise and spewed noxious fumes that sometimes interrupted their sleep. Residents raised concerns about their health, complaining of conditions ranging from asthma to cancer.

HEALTH ILLS HARD TO TRACE

County health experts say determining what, if any, health effects can be directly tied to the Inglewood Oil Field is difficult because other factors could also affect the residents’ well-being, including their socioeconomic status, genetics and exposure to environmental carcinogens unrelated to the drilling.

However, studies have linked certain leukemias, birth defects and low birth weight to prolonged exposure to petroleum and benzene—chemicals that get released into the air during oil drilling operations.

Last spring, the county released the first part of a study on the health of Baldwin Hills and Culver City residents living close to the field. Epidemiologists compared the leukemia mortality rate of nearby residents to that of Los Angeles County’s general population. The study found no difference in leukemia deaths among households near the field and those in other parts of the county.

The study also examined the rates of birth defects and low birth weights. Again, the study found no higher rates for those residing near the oil field compared to the rest of Los Angeles County.

This fall, the county expects to finish the second part of the study, an extensive health survey of those living within the parameters of the oil field.

Meanwhile, only time will tell how the terms of the recently settled lawsuit will change the quality of life for those living in the vicinity of the Inglewood Oil Field.

Culver City: How have you been affected by oil drilling in the nearby oil field? Have you seen structural damage or has your health been impacted?  Be sure to share your comments below, or on our Facebook or Twitter page.