Hermosa Beach

Hermosa Beach Residents Decide on Oil Drilling

Hermosa Beach will broadcast live updates on the vote count via the city’s website.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake over a controversial oil drilling project in Hermosa Beach where residents are set to vote on whether to make the quaint seaside community an oil rich one or not Tuesday.

Residents must decide if Measure O -- which if passed would allow E&B Natural Resources Management to build and operate an 87-foot drilling tower a few blocks from a beach that normally bussles with surfers and swimmers, with the potential to pump as many as 8,000 barrels of oil a day from 34 wells -- is the right choice for them.

If the measure is turned down, the city stands to pay about $17.5 million dollars in damages to the company, more than half the city’s annual budget.

"This is a huge industry that wants to come into a very small town and a very small space, and we just want to keep our town beautiful, keep Hermosa, Hermosa," Barbara Ellman said, a 28 year resident.

Resting on the southern end of Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles County, the family-friendly beach town of 20,000 has had a long and turbulent relationship with the oil drilling industry. Stretching back to 1984, E&B initially received the green light to recover oil following voter approved initiatives. Final approval came in 1992 and has been in legal limbo ever since.

Hoping to benefit from the initiative, proponents of Measure O say the potential for large financial gain, in the hundreds of millions of dollars, could result in new parking spaces, more police officers and funding for schools.

While opponents argued the project would push air pollution into the area and any accident related to drilling would defeat any financial gain the city would benefit from.

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"You can look at the facts, E&B has a very similar facility in Huntington Beach, similar density, similar residential area, no problem, housing prices didn't drop, the residents don't complain, there are no odors, so all those problems are just fictitious from my perspective," Dave Schrader said.

Some residents couldn't conceive the idea of a large oil drilling company making home in their town.

"Just the idea of putting 34 oil and gas wells in such a densely populated community and the risks that it poses to the community, is so crazy for some people to fathom," Stacey Armato said.

E&B for its part said it understands the concerns, but said this will actually be a good thing for Hermosa Beach.

"We stand behind our project that we feel very comfortable based on the experiences in the LA basin with the thousands of wells that have operated safely for decades and with newer technology and a much smaller footprint here," Michael Finch said at a newsconference Tuesday, an E&B spokesman.  "A 1.3 acre site behind a 35 foot wall, we're very comfortable this project can be done safely," he added.

Hermosa Beach will broadcast live updates on the vote count via the city’s website.

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