Update: LW seismic study on hold until year’s end
A spokesperson for NodalSeismic said a proposed geological survey that might take place within Seal Beach Leisure World would be postponed until after this year.
Diane Ripley, public relations consultant to Nodal Seismic and Signal Hill Petroleum, said the trucks that would perform the three-dimensional scan will be going to Texas.
Two community outreach meetings scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 9, and Monday, Aug. 10, will be delayed until further notice.
NodalSeismic of Signal Hill is planning a geological survey of Leisure World soil, roughly 18,000 feet below the retirement community.
A public relations consultant for NodalSeismic and Nodal Seismic’s client Signal Hill Petroleum, had planned community outreach meetings in August. However, the project has been delayed. It is not known when community outreach meetings might be held. Diane Ripley, a public relations consultant for the project, said the purpose of the survey was to get an accurate picture of the earth under the city of Long Beach.
She said to get that picture, sensors had to be placed slightly outside the area NodalSeismic wants to study.
Ripley said critics of the project were making decisions based on inaccurate information.
So far, Leisure World representatives have not been receptive to the proposal.
The proposal was rejected by a recent Presidents Council meeting following a presentation by NodalSeismic representatives. Tom Green, president of Mutual 9 and of the Presidents Council, said there was no support in the council.
Leisure World residents are apparently concerned that the purpose of the project is to acquire oil under Leisure World homes.
“We’re all aware that we don’t own any mineral rights,” said Martha Destra, president of Mutual 14.
“The main purpose is to see how much oil is there,” Destra said. She said NodalSeismic would then share information from the study with the U.S. Geological Survey.
Destra was apparently concerned about the possibility that Signal Hill Petroleum might want to drill for oil under Leisure World homes. She said that the oil company would need to drill through rock and “we need all the rock that we can get” in Leisure World, apparently referring to the region’s potential for liquefaction in the event of an earthquake.
However, Ripley said participants in the Presidents Council meeting were misinformed.
“We’re not looking for oil under their property,” she said. “We’re looking to create a 3-D map of Long Beach.”
Ripley said the NodalSeismic project had nothing to do with drilling for oil, nothing to do with drilling off shore and nothing to do with drilling in Seal Beach.
She said NodalSeismic prepares three-dimensional maps of the Earth about 18,000 feet below the surface of Long Beach. The maps will show fault lines and oil. The information from the proposed survey will be shared with California State University Long Beach, CalTech and the U.S. Geological Survey.
She said the project would have 7-inch high, yellow nodules planted under about 10 inches under dirt or sod. The nodes would be placed about 350 feet apart. She said the holes in the ground would be remediated once the project was over. The nodes would be in the ground for a month or two.
“It’s a very simple, straight forward project,” Ripley said.
She said Signal Hill Petroleum and NodalSeismic are looking for oil and fault lines in Long Beach. Ripley said Signal Hill Petroleum has a partnership with the city of Long Beach, which owns most of the mineral rights in the Long Beach area.
She said that NodalSeismic needed to go outside the Long Beach area to complete its mapping projected because “as far down as you need to go, that’s how far out you need to go.”
Ripley said that at one point during the Presidents Council meeting, she was asked how Leisure World residents would benefit from the project.
As of July 18, Seal Beach Public Works Director Sean Crumby said the city was looking at the company’s request to perform the research project.
