The Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School
July 18, 2008
Thank you to all of you who filled the Vet’s Rotunda Room last night for the L.A. County Workshop. It was a typical example of the outstanding community involvement our residents engage in. We must continue to put pressure on the County to listen to reason about the approval of the EIR.
Here’s a follow up to the information mentioned last night about the appearance of Joy Horowitz discussing her book on the Beverly Hills oil issue.
AUTHOR TO SPEAK ON THE POISONING OF BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
Joy Horowitz , author of “Parts Per Million, the Poisoning of Beverly Hills High School,” will speak on Thursday, July 24 at 6:00 PM at the Culver City Library. Her book examines the disproportionately high rate of cancer suffered by the teachers and students of Beverly Hills High School which was blamed on the oil pumping operation adjacent to the school. The case was made famous when Erin Brockovich filed a lawsuit against the School District. The topic is especially relevant today in Culver City, in view of the recently released Environmental Impact Report of the Baldwin Hills oil field.
The event, sponsored by the Culver City Friends of the Library, is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.
The Culver City Julian Dixon Library is located at 4975 Overland Avenue, Culver City, CA 90230. Overflow parking is available next door to the North of the Library at 4909 Overland Avenue. For more information, go to our website, www.ccfol.org. For ADA accommodation, call (310) 830-0231 (voice) or (310) 830-4532 (TTY) Monday – Friday at least 6 days prior to event.
Our Weekly: Baldwin Hills Black Gold
July 15, 2008
Backyard bonanza or environmental time bomb?
Our vice-president Mark Salkin is quoted in this story about the Baldwin Hills Oil fields. There is also some good background on how oil is extracted from the ground and lists some of the toxic byproducts.
Oil companies are revisiting formerly abandoned drill sites forsaken years ago as being unprofitable. This is not surprising considering the recent skyrocketing gasoline prices and oil costs per barrel.
Commenting on The Draft EIR and CSD
July 12, 2008
Here is information from the County regarding how to submit comments about the Draft EIR and CSD:
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Community Standards District (CSD) are available for review and comment until August 19, 2008. Please see the information below on how you can submit your comments.
Hardcopies of the Draft EIR are located at View Park Library, 3854 West 54th St. Los Angeles and Culver City Julian Dixon Library, 4975 Overland Ave, Culver City, as well as in PDF format online at the two links above.
Submit your written comments by August 19, 2008 to one of the addresses below. You can email your comments to either of the individuals below or to commplan@planning.lacounty.gov and they will be promptly forwarded to the appropriate party. If you email in comments, we recommend sending a cc: via snail mail.
Comments on the Draft EIR should be directed to:
Paul McCarthy
Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning
Impact Analysis, Hall of Records
320 W. Temple Street, Rm. 1348
Los Angeles, CA 90012
pmccarthy@planning.lacounty.gov
Comments on the applicant proposed Community Standards District should be directed to:
Russell J. Fricano
Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning
Community Studies I, Hall of Records
320 W. Temple Street, Rm. 1340
Los Angeles, CA 90012
rfricano@planning.lacounty.gov
To submit comments on both the Draft EIR and proposed CSD or to learn more about the project, please visit: http://planning.lacounty.gov/baldwinhillscsd
Note: the CSD in question is the one by PXP, not ours, i.e. they’re taking comments on the official one. The comments could of course be: “use ours!”
ABC7 coverage of the GBHA CSD Press Release
July 12, 2008
CCNA board advisor John Kuechle and board member Suzanne De Benedittis were interviewed during the press conference by the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance on the release of their own Community Standards District document (that competes with the one submitted by PXP Oil).
(Note that there is a short advertisement at the head of the clip.)
Here is the press release that spurred on this coverage:
And here is a statement by State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas regarding this CSD:
Our own CSD Document for the Oil Fields
July 12, 2008
This is the Community Standards District (a zoning overlay) that we, the CCNA, think would be a significantly improved starting point than the CSD that was authored by PXP Oil. The Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance is organized by the Community Health Councils, and while CSD is published by the GBHA, we think of it as “our own”, as it was created in huge part by your neighbors Ken Kutcher and John Kuechle.
An article in the Culver City edition of The Wave about PXP oil, the drilling moratorium, and the competing CSD authored by Ken Kutcher and John Kuechle.
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Draft EIR Calendar
July 11, 2008
Here are upcoming events regarding the PXP Oil EIR:
- Tonight ( Friday July 11, 2008 ) is a meeting at the Community Health Councils Headquarters at 3731 Stocker Street, Suite 201. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m, and will be similar to the meeting at Antoine and Jini Durr’s house. If you are interested in what’s going on and you couldn’t make it to the meeting at Antoine and Jini Durr’s house last night, please attend and get involved.
- The next major event will be at the Vet’s Auditorium at 4117 Overland on Thursday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m. This will be a County of Los Angeles EIR Workshop. The Draft Environmental Impact Report will be discussed and the County will explain what it means to us. It is imperative that we fill the place. Please make plans to attend this very important meeting.
- There will also be a workshop on Tuesday, July 22 at 7:00 p.m. at Knox Presbyterian Church at 5840 La Tijera Blvd. in Los Angeles. If you can’t make the first workshop, please try to attend the second.
- Most important of all will be the County Regional Planning Commission Public Hearings. They will be held on Saturday, August 2 at 12:00 noon at the West Los Angeles College Auditorium, Room FA100. If you don’t go anywhere else, it is critical to the cause that you attend the one at West Los Angeles College. The County Commissioners will be there to hear the citizens concerns about this whole issue. They will be our captive audience. We’re not asking you to be there; we’re insisting that you be there. This will be the meeting that will allow us to show our strength in this matter.
- There will be a second hearing on Wednesday, August 27 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 150 at the Hall Administration Auditorium at 320 West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles).
Front Page Online Interview
July 3, 2008
Our own Ken Kutcher and John Kuechle were interviewed by Ari Noonan of the The Front Page Online Culver City news blog about the Draft EIR, Ken’s competing CSD document, and the impact of living next to the largest urban oil field in the U.S.
Part 1: Will the Voices of Crest Residents and Their Neighbors Be Heard Before PXP Begins Drilling
Part 2: Creating Awareness About the Risks Confronting Residents Near the Oil Drilling Field
Part 3: Gaseous Wakeup Call at 2 in the Morning Was Catalyst for Crest Residents
Part 4: Crest Residents Have a Problem with Supposedly Impartial PXP Drafting Own Regulations
Part 5: For First Community Meeting Crest Residents Will Enter Apprehensively
Drilling Moratorium Voluntarily Extended
July 2, 2008
Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke has announced that PXP Oil will not seek new drilling permits before October 21, 2008, thus effectively continuing the moratorium placed on them in June of last year’s emergency interim ordinance.
Draft EIR Released
July 2, 2008
The Draft EIR for the Baldwin Hills Oil Fields has been released. It’s big. It’s Really Big. You can download it here. Did we tell you it’s big? It’s 1400 pages. That link you just clicked on is a 162 MEGABYTE PDF document! In the meantime, here’s the announcement by the Department of Regional Planning.
