Abbot’s Got Gas
By John
Davis
No not that kind of gas, at least
not from that source. Whew. We are talking about Abbot Kinney Blvd. In what may
spell doom or perhaps boom for major new developments, the City is requiring
mitigation for what it terms “Explosion/Release (Methane
Gas).”
This part of Venice is in a former oil and
gas field, just like Playa Vista and Marina del Rey. Deep underground there are
gases that can slowly rise to the surface through old abandoned well bores and
underground cracks in hard rock called faults.
When the gases migrate from sources
thousands of feet below they mix with the groundwater just a few feet under the
surface.
Areas where the gases have
mixed with the sub-surface groundwater are called gas seeps. Playa Vista is full
of them and apparently so is
Venice.
Like the gas of the real Abbot
Kinney, part of the oil field gas is methane which is lighter than air. The City
ordinance is designed to prevent explosions and releases of methane
gas.
Well, that seems wise enough. When
you get too much methane in the basement and the alarms go off you get the hell
out and run far enough away to be safe if it explodes.
At the skeletal Playa Vista
Development, residents who purchase homes are informed that there are methane
alarms there too. Who would want a million-dollar plus house that didn’t
have the latest in windows, toilets, and methane alarms?
The City does not require Playa Vista
to inform poorer people living at the Fountain Park Apartments about the methane
problems and alarm failures. They have had to find out the hard way. Repeatedly,
false alarms have been triggered sending residents to stand outside waiting in
the cold for an all clear. Wow.
Remember the fable of the Boy who
cried Wolf? Imagine a dad sitting with his son at the Fountain Park Apartments,
and the Gas Alarm sounds, again. Dad might then say don’t worry son, it is
just the methane alarm failing again. Or is
it?
But there are other gases coming to
the surface too and they are extremely
dangerous.
Gases known as BTEX, Benzene
and Toluene are on the list of Proposition 65 chemicals that are known to cause
cancer and birth defects.
Deadly
hydrogen sulfide can also accompany oilfield emissions. It is primarily known to
cause brain damage in small concentrations and is one of the substances listed
by OSHA as a primary cause of employee injury and death in the workplace due to
exposure. This gas has the smell of rotten
eggs.
The old City code is only for
methane. It does not consider the fact that some of the dangerous oil field
gases are heavier than air and cling to the ground level, invading structures
and lingering, sometimes as people work, shop, eat and
sleep.
The City should ensure the
public’s health and safety by first analyzing the soil and groundwater at
these proposed developments on Abbott Kinney Blvd. by conducting Environmental
Impact Reports required by the California Environmental Quality Act. It is
quite possible that digging two levels into an oil field may cause a release of
gases that would otherwise not take place. So if you see the bulldozers digging
two levels of underground parking hold your nose. Whew, these large ugly fart
lofts really do stink up the neighborhood.
Posted: Tue - July 1, 2003 at 07:29 PM