To see a previous issue of the Top Stories section, please go to the "Archives" button above.

"Steam" from Century City Building Isn't just Water Vapor 

(Interior photos emailed to us by Casimiro Sanchez)

      Each day, clouds of white smoke can be seen leaving the building directly adjacent to the Century City Hospital. These clouds of smoke that are released just across Heath Avenue from the baseball field, and near the football field, are often dismissed as water vapor clouds. This however, is not the case. What people don't know: the owners of the complex have been cited on various occasions for releasing illegal and harmful amounts of chemicals into the air. Media coverage of the recent pending lawsuit against the district has focused on the Oil Well at Beverly. Many students do not realize that among Venoco (the private oil company that runs the drilling on campus), other oil companies have been named in the suit as well. 

      The building that is releasing the clouds of potentially hazardous chemicals is home to one of the largest district cooling systems in the world. The complex contains massive boilers that provide both heating and cooling for 11 million square feet of commercial and residential space including many of Century City's buildings such as the Century Towers, Century City Hospital, and the Plaza Hotel. The boilers run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Omitting the technicalities of the system, what it basically does is it heats water in large boilers by burning natural gas. These boilers produce high temperature water for heating and steam for running turbines to produce cooling. Some of the hot water is sent to the Century City Hospital to sterilize instruments. The heated steam along with the burnt natural gas (both byproducts of the process), are then released into the atmosphere right next to Beverly Hills High School.

      Studies show that burnt natural gas is a hazard to human health. Given the large amounts of gas given off by the complex and its close proximity to the school, the classrooms, and the athletic fields, the Century City District Cooling complex poses a direct threat to student health. AQMD reports show that the facility gives off toxins including formaldehyde (a know carcinogen found in cigarette smoke), benzene, which is also a cancer-causing toxin, and acrolene which is a toxin that children are especially susceptible to. 

      The amount of toxins released into the air by the complex is so great that the Southern California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) has fined Sempra Energy (the large oil company that owns and operates the District Cooling Complex) on several occasions. AQMD documents show that the complex has exceeded its pollution limits by releasing (on one occasion) 3,481 pounds of NOx over their annual allocation. Every year, the facility releases tens of thousands of pounds of NOx and sulfur dioxide directly over the school. These sources of pollution contribute to the formation of fine particles in the lungs and heavily contribute to air pollution. 

      The facility has also been cited on multiple occasions due to poor monitoring equipment (which, by law, they are required to have installed).  In addition, the complex is under review for being classified as a Title 5 facility, which means the Sempra Energy facility is a "major source of pollution" according to the SCAQMD. To make such large pollutant and toxic emissions, Sempra Energy pays the AQMD thousands of dollars yearly. 

      The Sempra Energy district cooling/heating facility is a RECLAIM facility. The AQMD RECLAIM program allows for the "trading" of "pollution credits" among companies. That is, each region has a limit on the amount of emissions that can be given off as a net sum. Each facility is then given its own quota on how much pollution can be released. The RECLAIM program allows large polluters to buy pollution credits from other nearby facilities that are not using all of their pollution quota. The result is concentrated pollution sources in certain areas. The problem with the Sempra facility is that they often buy these credits so that they can legally emit far more pollutants than their own permit allows for. 

      Whether the toxins released by the complex are harming the students and faculty or not, it is evident that the cooling plant poses a palpable risk to the students and staff of Beverly Hills High School. It is important to know that the Oil Well is not necessarily the only possible source of carcinogens: the seemingly harmless cloud of "steam", in reality, contains much more than just water vapor - it contains harmful toxins and massive amounts of pollution.

Pictures:

(Exterior photos taken by Beverly Underground. We were informed on November 10th about the possible dangers at the Sempra plant by Casimiro Sanchez who sent us the interior photos. Since we did not take them, we can not verify for certain if they were actually taken in the plant. From all available photos and from exterior visibility, they seem like they definitely were taken within the plant.)

The first picture (at far top) shows the outside of the 38-year old Sempra facility as seen from the baseball field. 

The second picture shows one of the various boilers in the complex. 

The third picture shows burnt (notice how the smoke is black) natural gas being released next to the parking lot near the 500 building. 

The fourth picture shows warning signs near the entrance of the facility. One sign reads, "This facility contains one or more chemicals know the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and/or reproductive harm."

The fifth picture shows the Haz Mat response equipment station within the facility.

The sixth picture shows the massive amounts of emissions coming from the facility. One student, upon seeing the smoke as seen in the picture said, "Oh my god, I think the building is on fire."

These pictures show part of the outdoors section of the Sempra facility. Notice the orange sign on in the first picture. It is difficult to discern but it says, "Caution: Sulfuric Acid". Behind the sign is a 40 foot high grid where water containing sulfuric acid falls down.

These are pictures of the interior of the facility.

The facility is basically a power plant that puts all the energy is produces into heating and cooling.

The Sempra Facility emissions as seen from the parking lot near the old English building.

- Zack Anderson
 

The Truth Behind Venoco and the Oil Well

      Ever since Erin Brockovich and Ed Masry released a statement to the press accusing Venoco of releasing harmful agents into the air around BHHS campus, local papers have extensively covered the "Oil Well Crisis". In light of pro-city, oil company, and school district sentiments, many of the facts have been clouded. 

      Lets start from the beginning. In February of 2003, Masry and Vititoe law firm informed CBS news of their test results which showed high levels of toxic chemicals including toluene, cancer-causing benzene, and the neurotoxin n-hexane. On February 6th, the SCAQMD (South Coast Air Quality Management District) visited the oil well, run by the privately owned oil company Venoco. The oil well was shut down and the AQMD issued a violation to Venoco on the 7th for illegally venting natural gas into the atmosphere. They were also issued with a violation for illegally installing an amine unit inside the derrick. When the AQMD did testing in February, they found abnormally high levels of toluene in the atmosphere around the school.

      After the February inspections and the media frenzy, most people thought Venoco would get its act together and thoroughly check every component to make sure there were absolutely no leaks given the amount of public scrutiny that Venoco was facing. This was not the case, however. Despite citations from the AQMD in February, Venoco did not take much action to seal leaks. In April, after the February visit, and two more visits from the AQMD in March, Venoco was cited once again for violations that, according to the AQMD, were "due to poor maintenance and could have been prevented." During the April visits on the 6th, 10th, and 19th, Venoco was cited for multiple leaks in which VOCs (volatile organic compounds) were released into the atmosphere. Concerned parents found it astonishing that not only did the AQMD miss these major leaks during their February and March visits, but they also were alarmed at the severity of the rust, corrosion, and utter disrepair that the Venoco facility was in. These pictures were taken by the AQMD showing the violations present:

      This picture (above) shows the heavily rusted condition and the uneven placement of the clarafier unit allowing VOC emissions to be emitted. The AQMD found these emissions to amount up to 100,000 parts per million. 

      All of these above pictures show areas where significant leaks occurred. Once again, these leaks were not found until the fourth visit by the AQMD to the Venoco oil derrick and after two months of public scrutiny in which Venoco could have repaired such leaks.

      One of the AQMD citations was due to the fact that there was a screw-on cap for one on the vents that was too large for the pipe and was merely sitting on top of it. These seemingly reckless violations are making people think about what kind of operation Venoco was running before they came under intense scrutiny. If such negligence was occurring while there was pending litigation against them, testing from the AQMD, media coverage, and various concerned parents and students investigating the matter, how much worse was the situation before?

      The City of Beverly Hills hired CDM group (Camp, Dresser and McKee) to do air and soil testing. For more credibility, the city attorney Larry Wiener invited the DTSC (the Department of Toxic Substance Control) on campus. The DTSC, however, wanted to test for every potentially hazardous contaminant. CDM and the city did not find this acceptable because they wanted to only test for a select few chemicals. The DTSC, not being able to conduct their investigation, left. DTSC director Hamid Saebfar said, "We're not saying there is a problem or anyone is trying to hide something, we really don't know." Indeed the allegation has been raised that the city is hiding something. By the city not testing for every potential toxin, it seems to the public that the city is trying to disprove the allegations against the well rather than look out for the welfare of the students. Many concerned parents have expressed to the city that a complete DTSC investigation would make them feel at ease yet the city does nothing but continue to use their hired lab, CDM, to disprove rather than look for the presence of toxins.

      A common deception that Venoco uses for the public to gain sympathy for them is that they are small, independent, and privately owned. Venoco is made to seem like the underdog in the controversy. They are in fact privately owned, but in reality, that's about the extent of them being a small independent company. Venoco and its top officials have made sizable contributions to a variety of elected officials running as both republicans and democrats. Perhaps Venoco believes the politicians will be more lenient to the oil industry and  to Venoco itself if they make monetary contributions. In addition, Venoco received $60 million from Enron before the whole Enron scandal came out. One organization that Venoco has contributed thousands of dollars to is the California Independent Petroleum Association. CIPA is a organization that lobbies for oil company interests. If the AQMD is considering making a policy stricter for the oil companies, CIPA will be there to try to dissuade the AQMD from doing so. A network of special interests and monetary donations show that Venoco has attempted to, and succeeded, it embedding its interests into the government. The following logical question is posed: how could the AQMD not have detected the oil derrick emitting such large amounts of natural gas and toxins unless the AQMD itself was looking out more for Venoco than for the students?

      Another important issue is the methane gas problem. The city's (CDM's) own reports show that in some places on the field methane concentrations reached 227,000 parts per million during the field tests (100,000 ppm in the lab). Although these readings were taken at about 13 feet underground, there is significant potential for the methane to leak up above the surface. Methane, like other gases, seek the path of least resistance. If the path of least resistance is up, then these high numbers of methane gas could vent from the soil. Since methane has the potential to explode at 5-15% by volume methane, these test results are quite alarming. They show a 27% methane reading. As ridiculous as it may seem, leaking methane gas causing an explosion would not be without precedent. In march of 1985 a Ross Dress For Less in the Fairfax District exploded from a buildup of naturally occurring methane gas. Methane gas in its natural form is odorless and thus cannot be detected without monitoring equipment. As of today, parents are asking, "where is the monitoring equipment?" There has been talk of installing methane monitors in the locker rooms, but the monitors are still not in place and an explosion hazard is a real possibility.

      Why are the questions not being posed? How could the AQMD miss such significant emissions such as the venting of natural gas and the multiple leaks on so many occasions? Why would Venoco not bother to fix leaks even after the oil well came under public attention? Where was the AQMD for all these years before February of 2003? Why would Venoco leave their facility in such disrepair? Where are the methane monitors? Who is going to monitor the monitors that Venoco is required to install? Will Venoco? Whose interests is the AQMD really looking after? Why was the DTSC not allowed to conduct a thorough investigation? All of these questions, and more, remain unanswered. It is clear that the city's stance that all is well is just simply not the case.

- Zack Anderson

Beverly's 2003 Football Season

"Still Stuck on the First Step"

       Another football season is now gone, with the same outcome. This was the third straight year that the season ended with a first-round playoff loss. The team deserves a lot of credit though, playing this year successfully in spite of losing star wide receiver Sonny Shackelford to graduation this year. The season started off with a monstrous win over Compton Centennial. The next game the team went out to D.1 school Long Beach Cabrillo. Even though Cabrillo had explosive speed and a strong defense, the Normans walked away with a tie, almost a win. The next game was played against yet another D.1 school, Long Beach Wilson. The game was a loss, but a significant one because star quarterback Ollie Linter was ejected from the game, and was suspended from play in the next one. The next game was a loss to Oxnard Pacifica, due mostly because of the loss of quarterback Ollie Linter. With Linter coming back, the team won its next four games. With playoff contention possibly on the line, the Normans went up against Peninsula, a team we have never beaten. To put us in the playoffs, the Normans forced a tie with Peninsula, the first non-loss against them in recent memory. The last regular-season game of the year came against D.3 powerhouse Mira Costa. The Normans walked into that Manhattan Beach air believing they could pull off a win. After a first half which produced a tie score, Costa started to pull away. With roughly four and a half minutes left on the clock, the Normans were within 25 yards of the end zone and down two touchdowns. Quarterback Ollie Linter threw to star wide receiver Brandon Rice, and Rice got his hands on the ball but came down hard. To the viewers, everything seemed all right, but Rice didn’t get up. On his hard hit on the ground, Rice broke his collarbone, putting him out for the game and the rest of the season. This horrible turn of events put both the game and Bay League championship in the hands of Mira Costa. With Rice out for the playoffs, a win over Antelope Valley in the first round seemed slim to the players. Beverly onlookers agreed that the Normans fought valiantly, but to no avail. The Normans had a great season this year, no doubt about it. Quarterback Ollie Linter, wide receiver Brandon Rice, and running back Kyle McCall put up big numbers this year; Rice actually putting up top ten numbers. The defense played very good, holding D.1 Cabrillo and rival Peninsula to ties. Punter David Strimple made a huge difference, putting up monster punts this year. Wide Receiver Brandon Rice filled in the huge shoes of Sonny Shackelford to put up top ten numbers. Quarterback Ollie Linter played yet another great season, even though working with a small Offensive Line and missing a game. All and all, we can be proud of the football team this season, even thought they’re still stuck on the first step. 

- The Walrus