Now here's a bit o' encouraging news out of the Baldwin Hills!
NBC LA.Com
Oilfield Settlement Reached
In 2006, folks living near the PXP operated Inglewood oil field in the Baldwin hills were mighty upset when "uncontrolled emissions of noxious gas" affected more than 500 homes in the area and forced the evacuation of dozens of people in the middle of the night.
Originally, in 2008 there were four separate lawsuits filed against PXP that were eventually combined into one. If ya'll want more details about this settlement, here are a few links:
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas
Los Angeles County, Second District
The Inglewood Oil Field - A settlement has been reached!
Posted July 5, 2011
(The supervisor's web page contains a bushel of links and useful information!)
Mercury News.com
Settlement reached over SoCal urban oilfield
Posted: 07/05/2011 04:05:29 PM PDT
Updated: 07/05/2011 05:29:25 PM PDT
L.A. Wave
New Deal Struck on Oil Drilling in Baldwin Hills
By LEILONI DE GRUY, Staff Writer
Story Created: Jul 6, 2011 at 10:33 PM PDT
Story Updated: Jul 6, 2011 at 10:33 PM PDT
The City Project
Baldwin Hills Settlement a Victory for Environmental Justice and Quality for All!
July 6, 2011
Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) Press Release
Agreement Reached to Reduce Urban Oil Drilling in Los Angeles
July 6, 2011
Chart - Comparison of Baldwin Hills Oil Field Restrictions*
This settlement contains a lot of highfalutin language that sounds pretty good to me! For instance, "a Community Health Assessment with Environmental Justice component"* sounds like something we need here in Montebello and ever since the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) submitted it's comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the proposed Montebello Hills Specific Plan (MHSP), I know I've been mighty worried about what we folks here in Montebello are already taking into our lungs!
SCAQMD Letter to Montebello
June 12, 2009
The SCAQMD is concerned that residents and other sensitive receptors in the proposed residential development would be exposed to borderline significant levels of cancer risk and significant operational NOx emissions from the active oil field operations that will continue to operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week within the proposed development. The lead agency has estimated that sensitive receptors would be exposed to a cancer risk level of 9.9 in one million compared with the SCAQMD threshold of 10 in one million (1.0 x 10-5) and would also be exposed to 459 pounds per day of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from future ongoing oil field operations, which exceeds the SCAQMD’s recommended regional daily significance threshold for NOx of 55 pounds per day by approximately eightfold. Therefore, the SCAQMD is concerned about the incompatibility of the proposed project with the adjacent ongoing oil field operations where residents would be exposed to elevated air toxic emissions and significant criteria pollutant emissions.
Yikes! I think it goes without saying that we are in sore need of some type of "air quality monitoring designed to assess the risk of both acute and chronic exposure to air contaminants "* similar to what's mentioned in the Baldwin hills settlement!
So what do we folks here in Montebello have to do to get our share of the "love?" Maybe it's time Montebello considered establishing it's own community standards district?
Just a thought.
Daisy Mae
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