Council Votes To Support Councilman Uranga's Proposal Seeking City Mgm't Report On Potential Funding Sources ($17-$22 Mil) To Acquire Oil Operators Property For A Public Purpose (Such As A Park) And Report Back In Open/Public Session

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(May 19, 2016) -- As seen LIVE on LBREPORT.com, the City Council voted 8-0 (Gonzalez absent) on May 17 to support an item agendized by Councilman Roberto Uranga directing city management to identify potential funding sources of $17-$22 million (with the goal of not tapping City funds) to acquire the Oil Operators property (roughly 20 acres between Baker St. and Wardlow Rd. adjacent to the east bank of the L.A. River) for a future public purpose such as a public park.

At the opening of discussion, Councilman Uranga amended his agendized item to direct management to specify that management report on those funding sources to the Council in an open and public session before discussing any possible purchase in closed session.

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Multiple public speakers (including Joan Greenwood, President of the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance) indicated they favor the potential acquisition for some types of public uses. (Ms. Greenwood urged uses consistent with completion of RiverLink.)

City staffer Mike Conway said the property is currently undergoing environmental remediation (the timing and cost of which aren't entirely known) and is currently in escrow and under contract for sale, although a development proposal hasn't been submitted to the City.

Councilman Uranga indicated that it's his goal to try to obtain funding to acquire the property from various sources and avoid City costs.

In his agendizing memo, Councilman Uranga noted that Oil Operators "is currently addressing remediation obligations at the Site. The Site was formerly used to treat oilfield-produced water from various oil extractions efforts in the Long Beach area. As such, there is high probability of continued remediation that is necessary."

During public testimony, a number of neighborhood speakers voiced the need to address environmental issues at the site.

For the past several years, the Los Angeles Water Quality Control Board (LAWQCB) has been overseeing remediation of the aftermath of what it believes was a pipeline leak years earlier along Golden Ave. to the east of the Oil Operators site between Baker St. and west Wardlow Rd. On February 1, 2016, LAWQCB representatives delivered a presentation at a monthly meeting of the Wrigley Association with Point slides visible at this link, indicating that in assessing estimated cancer risks (for exposures over a lifetime period) from soil and soil vapors, LAWQCB has found "no exceedances of residential screening levels for the top 10 feet of soil in either the residential areas or the parks"...including data from the City-constructed Baker St. mini-park and the Wrigley Heights Dog Park near the southeast corner of the site (on property apparently now owned by the City of Long Beach based on online APNs.) The agency also noted that a soil vapor extraction system, implemented in April 2015, had by Oct. 30, 2015 removed sixteen pounds of benzene (classified by multiple agencies as carcinogenic to humans) from the overall pipeline-leak impacted area.

At the Feb. 2016 Wrigley Association meeting, long-time Wrigley neighborhood advocate Candace Mead noted that she regularly brought her beloved dog "Beau" to the dog park...and he developed a type of cancer that took his life in which she said benzene exposure has been associated.

LARWQCB indicates in its Power Point presentation that Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company LLC (Tesoro) bought the pipelines in June 2013 and has assumed responsibility for investigation and cleanup activities (from actions by the prior pipeline owners/operators.)

LARWQCB has separately indicated that it doesn't have control over, and isn't involved with, local land use decisionmaking; the agency's role is in mitigation and environmental clean-ups. Land use acquisitions and decisionmaking rest with the Long Beach City Council.