The Termo Company made a presentation at the April 1 Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council meeting about their proposed project to drill twelve new oil and gas wells as an extension of their existing operations in the Aliso Canyon Field north of Porter Ranch. Ralph Combs, Manager of Corporate Development explained that the project would use three existing relatively flat and open areas on the north side of the ridgeline in the Santa Susana Mountains. The three proposed drilling locations are just inside the existing Santa Susana Mountains Significant Ecological Area. They believe the project is not out of character for the area because it adjoins existing oil and gas operations.
They began their presentation noting that they are privately held and have been in business 80 years through four generations. They are conservative, careful, and have a $50 million credit line with JP Morgan. They currently are working in a number of sensitive ecological areas including Seal Beach.
They currently have 18 wells in the vicinity. If this project is fully built out, it would add 12 more wells. They propose using three existing pre-disturbed areas, two old pastures and one old orchard. Two sites are fully enveloped in trees. Drilling rigs are temporary, rising to about 150 feet. They specified that the project would be on the north side of the hill from Porter Ranch and not visible from Rinaldi. Drilling would proceed 24 hours a day until completion. Lights used for drilling would be shielded. The project would use existing roads. 60 trees would be trimmed, but not removed.
When asked about truck traffic on Tampa, Combs noted that they currently send two trucks a day down Tampa. This project would have a net increase of one truck a day.
On the topic of ground water, Combs explained that the closest well to the ground water basin is one mile away.
This project could generate a 60% increase in property tax revenue, as the site is not held to proposition 13 levels. As attendees further probed the potential tax benefit, it was clarified that we cannot be sure where that taxes would go or if they would ever benefit Porter Ranch.
PRNC Board Member Pat Pope asked the question on everyone’s mind, “Does this involve fracking?” Combs answer was no. This would be conventional drilling. However, Alex Nagy, from Food and Water Watch pointed out that at least one of the current wells used fracking at one time.
You can review Termo Supplemental material from February 2014.
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