First in a series
It may take a village to raise a child.
But conversely, it does not take anywhere close to a village to hobble the grand plans of a powerful Texas-quartered corporation that believes it should be oil drilling this afternoon in a 2-mile-long field where drilling has been conducted for 86 years.
All you need are several persons with the steel-strong, steely-eyed grit of Paul Ferrazzi, Suzanne DeBenedittis, Gary Gless, Ken Kutcher and John Kuechle who educated themselves in the dense, confusing ways of scaring, if not beating, city hall.
On the other side, there is a different kind of grit.
Over at Plains Exploration & Production Co., the major players are gritting their teeth over four resident-based lawsuits that have applied the brakes to PXP’s elaborate oil drilling scheme that was vigorously approved 15 months ago by Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors.
Instead of a fleet of imposing, ageless machinery symmetrically plunging into the ground, mostly there are sounds of silence in the Inglewood Oil Field.
The only drilling activity — presumably monitored by government watchdogs — is dramatically scaled down, so light, some say, that it hums along like echo-chamber background music.
Not the scenario PXP had envisioned.
And here is why.
Two years ago, large and scattered clusters of remarkably upset and determined residents — from Culver City, Culver Crest and on southward through a multitude of technicolor neighborhoods — were horrified when they learned, in leaking fashion, that the ensconced drilling company entertained ambitious expansion plans.
The company was hoping to expand without drawing unseemly attention.
Worried that greatly stepped-up drilling would foul the air and threaten the welfare of thousands of families in the drifting path of the drilling, the persons mentioned above, and a few friends, hurriedly, thoroughly school themselves in the dark, slippery science of gaining approval from a bagfull of government agencies to increase drilling.
A Green Light Can Be Elusive
It is easier to slip into the White House, uninvited, than to win approval from a roomful of alphabet agencies for drilling permission under the watchful eyes of dedicated activist homeowners, it turns out.
A contest that once looked lopsided — PXP vs. originally flailing homeowners — suddenly looks far closer to even, proof of which is that PXP effectively has been running in place for 15 months.
Meanwhile, the brace of homeowner lawsuits is due in court late in February, and Culver City’s decision to place a yearlong ban on drilling is on the docket a month later.
Which brings us back to Mr. Ferrazzi, typical of the objectors because he doesn’t fit an activist’s profile. Low-key and cautious is his way. You must lean forward to hear him.
Mr. Ferrazzi of Culver City signed up with the activists because “the area PXP wants to exploit is in my neighborhood.” Awareness began quietly for him. “Around 2005, PXP came into the neighborhoods, and they told people, ‘You better sign off on your mineral rights because Culver City is behind this. If you don’t sign, you’re going to lose a lot of money.’ A number of unsuspecting people, I don’t know how many, ended up signing over their mineral rights to PXP.”
One of those prolific alphabet agencies that constantly baffles professional and amateur watchers is the AQMD, the Air Quality Management District, Mr. Ferrazzi’s present focus, nearly a celebrity among agencies.
Families believe their health is at stake as PXP gets ready to drill more heavily than ever before.
Has the AQMD been properly responsive and candid with the citizens’ groups that are demanding PXP scrupulously follow the arcane and prominent air quality regulations?
That will be the subject of the next installment.
(To be continued)
