The City of Signal Hill is refusing to tell the public whether its still considering extending Signal Hill Petroleum’s oil drilling permit by an unprecedented 20 years.
The permit extension would be the longest one ever granted to Signal Hill Petroleum, and would allow it to drill up to 46 new oil wells in Signal Hill over the next 20 years.
The City held two public hearings on the potential permit extension over the summer, where numerous residents and activists expressed their concerns about further oil drilling within Signal Hill. The City said that the Planning Commission would hold another public hearing on the permit extension, and the City Council would discuss the issue by September.
Activists from climate nonprofit Food & Water Watch told the Signal Tribune they had reached out to Signal Hill’s Community Development Director Colleen Doan multiple times since the summer to ask about the potential permit extension, but had not received an update or even a reply.
“Just the fact that the City of Signal Hill has just brushed off a lot of community members’ concerns, a lot of climate groups’ concerns, is also just really concerning,” said Andrea Vega, an organizer with Food & Water Watch. “We’re also in a state of limbo right now because Food & Water Watch, as well as Climate Brunch, have been reaching out repeatedly over the past few months to the City of Signal Hill to get a clear answer as to whether or not they’re still going to be considering the conditional use permit.”
Vega said now that Senate Bill 1137 has passed into law, the permit extension should not be allowed, as it would lead to new wells being drilled in areas now protected by SB 1137. The bill prohibits drilling new wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, childcare facilities, playgrounds, hospitals and nursing homes. All of Signal Hill Petroleum’s existing drilling sites are within 3,200 feet of homes, schools and parks — while these will still be allowed to operate, new wells can’t be drilled in these areas.
Signal Hill Petroleum and other entities in the oil and gas industry backed an effort to overturn SB 1137. The California Independent Petroleum Association, a nonprofit trade organization, gathered enough signatures for a referendum which prevented the law from going into effect until voters could decide on the issue in the November election. However, the organizations behind the referendum withdrew it from the ballot before the November election, and SB 1137 is now law.
“I would really hope that, because it’s now officially the law, that the City of Signal Hill will abide by the law, but it seems that, unfortunately, the community and environmental groups are having to really push the city to abide by the law, and it shouldn’t be that way,” Vega said. “The folks that are elected to represent the city, the people that are serving this community, should be making sure that people are safe. Nobody should have to be concerned that their water is poisoning them. That is completely unacceptable.”
When the Signal Tribune emailed City Manager Carlo Tomaino to find out whether the City is still considering the permit extension, he replied, “The City does not have any updates regarding the conditional use permit to offer the public at this time.”
The Environmental Impact Review for the permit extension had several inaccuracies, according to a February 2023 letter addressed to Doan by the State Water Resources Control Board. Despite the recommendations of the State, the Draft EIR has not been updated since it was made public in January 2023.
Among these inaccuracies was that Signal Hill falsely reported that none of the chemicals monitored by the state were found in the water supply at significant levels. According to the State Water Resources Control Board, benzene, toluene, iron and manganese were found at or above the reporting levels in the City’s production wells in 2021.
The Draft EIR was completed by Catalyst Environmental Solutions, and the consulting agency took two years to complete it.
2023010217_SWRCB DDW comments (1)A 2018 report by the County of Los Angeles said that all oil and gas wells emit dangerous chemicals into the air such as benzene. The City’s Draft EIR states that harmful air pollutants are emitted during every stage of oil production, and that drilling relies on hazardous chemicals.
“Benzene is something that we see come up a lot when it comes to fossil fuels, for folks that live in proximity to fossil fuel infrastructure,” Vega said. “It is a carcinogen. There should absolutely be no bending when it comes to whether it’s in people’s water or air.”
Vega recommended that Signal Hill residents reach out to their city council members and the mayor’s office for a clear answer on whether the City is still considering the 20-year drilling permit extension.
Residents can contact the mayor’s office at (562) 989-7280 or via email at kjones@cityofsignalhill.org. Contact information for the rest of the city council can be found at cityofsignalhill.org/Directory.aspx?did=14.
