[Rockhounds] The 'Revolutionary' Fight Over California's Hidden Oil and Gas Wells

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

At the corner of West Pico Blvd. and South Genesee Ave. in west Los Angeles
sits a tan, six-story building. It’s nothing much to look at: It’s set back
from the street by a manicured lawn, lined by a row of trees on each side.
An American flag flies out front.

At a quick glance, it appears no different from any other office building;
it looks like it could be home to medical practitioners, accounting firms,
or insurance agencies. But sit outside of it for long enough, and you won’t
spot many white collar workers coming in or out. Nor would you catch glance
of any workers through office windows. That’s because the windows on this
building are fake. In fact, the whole building is a facade
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W83K5Ly-tY&index=90&list=LL909cp0oFCit8cTOLe4ps1A&ab_channel=HowtoSurvive>;
its top is open and inside of it is an active oil well site operated by
Freeport-McRoran that produces thousands of barrels of oil per year
<https://www.stand.la/pico-blvd-drill-sites.html>.

The Packard Drill Site is one of a number of locations throughout the city
where oil and gas wells sit immediately next door to homes and offices, hidden
in plain sight
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W83K5Ly-tY&index=90&list=LL909cp0oFCit8cTOLe4ps1A&ab_channel=HowtoSurvive>
from
Angelenos. The city is home to
<https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-urban-oil-fields-of-los-angeles/100799/>
an
estimated 1,071 urban oil wells
<https://la.curbed.com/maps/oil-los-angeles-drill-sites-offshore> that
operate in relative secrecy behind tall fences or other clandestine
structures <https://www.stand.la/history-of-oil-in-los-angeles.html>,
though only a handful
<https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/hidden-oil-wells/> are concealed from
public view
<https://99percentinvisible.org/article/hollywood-worthy-camouflage-uncovering-the-urban-oil-derricks-of-los-angeles/>
 as elaborately as the Packard Drill Site. Just more than 70%
<https://www.stand.la/drill-sites-in-la.html> of them sit mere feet from
hospitals, daycare centers, schools, or homes.

https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-revolutionary-fight-over-californias-hidden-oil-and-1845967422