Re “Oil Field Survey Is Unable to Connect Health and Drilling”
A week ago the ballyhooed but thin “2011 Inglewood Oil Field Health Survey,” authored by the County Health Dept., and pooh-poohed by anti-frackers, was hotter than Chick-fila-A. Today it is less relevant than the dead Kentucky Wesleyan Fried Chicken franchise.
Evidently, the survey has gone to that great repository in the sky where all questionable data is doomed to end up – or deep inside a musty drawer in an obscure, unmarked filing cabinet in an unused section of County Health.
Meaningless.
That was the summation of a city leader known for taking measured views.
As an original member of the Community Advisory Panel that is a watchdog over the Inglewood Oil Field, John Kuechle has reversed his position regarding the merit of a health survey.
“I was one of those really pushing for a survey at the very early stages of the drafting process of the Community Standards District,” Mr. Kuechle said this afternoon.
Hope and Un-change
“The hope was that the survey would enlighten people so that they would be able to make better decisions about how to best regulate the oil field.
“I became convinced – not being a health expert, my being convinced does not mean anything – but I became convinced pretty early on that chances of any survey, done by anybody, coming to a conclusion definitive enough to help guide people in drafting an ordinance, was very small. I stopped paying much attention to it because I didn’t see it ever accomplishing much because it is such a difficult field.
“There are so many unknowns about what is out there and what it is that is making people sick,” Mr. Kuechle said.
Those Who Disagree
“Other people, probably smarter than I, think it is possible, with the right kind of survey, to get a definitive enough answer to help guide policymakers.
“It would be great to get that. Obviously, it hasn’t happened. I am still not convinced it can happen.”
Mr. Kuechle first declared his advocacy of a health survey three or four years ago, after the first environmental impact report for the Community Standards District was issued.
Changing One Man’s Mind
Tracing the history, he said that two original surveys were melded into a single document. Carrie Tayour of the County Health Dept., addressed the Community Advisory Panel two years ago on the survey(s), Mr. Kuechle said, “and as far as I know, they have been working on it ever since. Some combination of these surveys has been in progress a long time.”
When did Mr. Kuechle change his mind about the value of a health survey?
“At the third or fourth meeting on the environmental impact report, I was convinced by (County consultant) Jon Pierson that the state of science is such, it is not possible to know whether the freeways, the oil field or some other aspect of Southern California is making people sick,” he said. “They are all spewing out the same crummy stuff.
“You just can’t know.
“Lots of people, including (activist) Gary Gless, are convinced that is wrong. They may be right. This is not my field,” said the attorney. “I am not an expert.
“I have not heard anything that has convinced me to the contrary.
“This is not the issue I am spending most of my time on, just because it’s so complicated and lt’s so far away from anything I feel intellectually comfortable with.”
Does the fact the survey has gone away validate Mr. Kuechle’s opinion?
“The people who wrote the survey reached that conclusion,” he said, “that it wasn’t possible to learn anything useful. You can say that is some kind of confirmation.
“On the other hand, advocates on the other side are equally convinced that it can be done. You just need to get different experts to do it.”
