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VENTURA — When Westside Ventura resident Matthew Bello went on a walk in his neighborhood on April 14, 2020, he saw something he did not expect:
Cars and trucks parked inside the SoCalGas property at 1555 North Olive Street, and a flurry of activity on the usually quiet site. At least a half-dozen workers with shovels were digging a trench in the large dirt lot adjacent to the hulking natural gas compressor station.
Most passersby might not think much of this activity. They’d likely chalk it up to another construction project along The Avenue’s always-busy corridor. But lucky for his neighbors, Bello is part of the newly formed Westside Clean Air Coalition, a community group focused on protecting air quality for all who live and go to school on The Avenue. The group has been following plans for 1555 North Olive closely – a property that has a history of soil contamination and air pollution dating back at least one hundred years. He knew what many would not:
The soil the workers were digging up is profoundly contaminated. It is laced with lead, arsenic, carcinogenic gasoline byproducts, and other volatile organic chemicals. What’s more, SoCalGas did not have a permit for this digging activity.
SoCalGas’ unapproved plans to dig up this lead-contaminated soil, and the lack of safety planning for the surrounding community, has been an escalating concern for the neighborhood. The site sits across the street from EP Foster Elementary School. On the 14th, children had just returned to school and were getting ready for recess. Bello sounded the alarm and reported it to the Ventura Air Pollution Control District.
Earlier the same day, Westside resident and Food & Water Watch organizer Tomás Rebecchi drove by while dropping off his daughter at preschool and saw much the same. He took pictures and noted “Trenches were being dug, and none of the workers appeared to have protective gear or N95 masks. This is exactly what we feared with SoCalGas and their bad track record.” A public records request from Food & Water Watch to the Ventura County Air Pollution District revealed that this site has had a history of leaks and violations. One recent violation, in 2016, was due to improper asbestos removal when demolitioning a building. This current remediation plans call not only soil removal, but the demolition of a similar structure.
Then Westside resident Liz Campos, Chair of the Westside Community Council, started getting emails and phone calls. She was alarmed by what she heard and noted “As they were digging up the site, wind speeds were fourteen miles per hour. We still don’t know If the dirt has been watered down or contained. Toxic dust could be traveling across to the elementary school as we speak”
Campos called the City of Ventura’s Code Enforcement unit and emailed Ventura City Council members. But when they showed up alongside City Councilmember Mike Johnson, nobody on the site would let them in and they continued to dig. A man who would not identify himself or his supervisor claimed that the unprotected work crew were not employed by SoCalGas, and promised that a public relations representative would get in touch.
Johnson, along with Tim Fiske from Building Safety and Kaitlin Eyre from Code Enforcement, waited outside the facility gates at 1555 North Olive Street. As the day wore on, Johnson cancelled official business on his calendar in the hopes that someone would come speak to them about the unauthorized excavation taking place.
“We could see a long trench and piles of dirt from our vantage point outside the gate. In all, we were made to wait for over an hour and my requests to speak to whoever authorized this activity to take place have gone unanswered.”
At this time, no one from SoCal gas has been in touch with the Coalition or City Councilman with an explanation for why unpermitted excavation took place. The City of Ventura issued a stop work order on 1555 North Olive Street, and the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District is currently testing the disturbed soil. The brazen disrespect shown to the City of Ventura’s staff and elected officials was a shock to everyone involved.
But this could be just the first round in a long fight for Westside residents. Clean-up plans still need permitting from California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), an agency that has shown little interest in public input and community concerns. There is not a well-defined safety plan for the soil clean-up, and it paves the way for SoCalGas’ planned expansion of the Compressor Station. If approved, the natural gas facility’s doubling will hugely increase the pollution burdens of The Avenue’s residents and expand the incineration zone in the worst case scenario, like the explosion of a similar facility in Aliso Canyon.
DTSC has denied a community meeting, citing a lack of public interest. In an area with a history of being treated like a sacrifice zone for oil and gas operations, residents are once again being told their voices do not matter. Several elected officials representing Ventura have appealed this prejudicial decision, including Senator Monique Limón, Assemblyman Steve Bennett, and Supervisor Matt LaVere.
Just today, SoCalGas has announced four community meetings, two in English and two in Spanish, with DTSC promising to attend only one. For the Westside Clean Air Coalition, that is not enough. To address community safety concerns, DTSC should hold meetings independent of industry interests and direct the permitting of the clean-up process according to that input. With the oil and gas industry’s history on The Avenue, self-regulation is out of the question.
Meanwhile, the Westside Clean Air Coalition is finding creative ways to voice their concerns.
On Saturday, April 24th, from 2pm-4pm, the Coalition will hold a (socially distanced and masked) march and public protest. The protest will begin at Kellogg Park at 2pm, with a march over to 1555 North Olive Street beginning at 2:30. More information can be found at westsidecleanair.org.
Environmental groups including CFROG, Food and Water Watch, Runners for Public Lands, Sierra Club, and BikeVentura have joined the Westside Clean Air Coalition in support of its goals.
CFROG is a climate watchdog, dedicated to combating the climate crisis by working to shape the transition from fossil fuels to a carbon-free economy on California’s Central Coast.
Food & Water Action is the political advocacy arm of the research and education organization Food & Water Watch. We mobilize people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water and climate problems of our time.
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