1950 DEC 20 CC MIN - 511
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200,000 barrels of oil a month. We have depleted our fuel
oil from 34 million barrels to 17 million barrels. If
this condition keeps on, we are going to have no storage.
I, being an oil operator, and operating and
developing property in the ( ?) area,some
two years ago we closed down this property. The wells
were marginal wells, they were once abandoned. I went in
there to develop it and put it back on. You couldn't sell
this oil. We had plenty of oil. There was no reason for
any development. Today I am drilling these wells, putting
them back on production, spending tens of thousands of
dollars to get from 10 to 12 barrels of oil out of a well.
I just got through drilling a well down to
12,662 feet in an area of Ventura Avenue, where there was
a beautiful home there. I don't think there is any home
here in El Segundo more beautiful, and in a nice neighbor-
hood, with a school right by it, and we drilled that well,
the people in that area were in favor of the well, they
realized the general condition that we are facing here,
and I was asked to come here to express what I thought
were the views of what you are getting into here.
I believe in this area here, if Mr. Pauley is
willing -- I have no interest in this well; I want to go or
record with you gentlemen that I have no interest whatsoeve
in this well -- but if Mr. Pauley is willing to come in he3
and spend $150,000 to $200,000, which it will cost him to
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drill that well, and find out whether they have got any oil,
and if he gets into a little fishing job like I have in one
well in Montebello for $94,000 by losing the bailer in the
hole, he might be out three or four hundred thousand dollars.
And I say that if a man is willing to come in here and
develop this oil -- and what they are willing to do here
is creating no hazard whatsoever, it isn't going to disturb
the property owners one bit by being way off in whipstock -
ing the well under the property -- because I have done that
in Montebello under the Montebello Water Works, in the City
of Montebello, I whipstocked a well right under their
reservoir and it didn't disturb their water at all, they got
the water just the same -- and I feel that with the storage
going down the way it is and the condition the way it is,
I think that everybody should be patriotic enough that
regardless if it does inconvenience them a little bit, it
might be a good thing to say, "Well, you know, that fellow
went to war and I, at least, did my share."
Thank you.
MAYOR SELBY: Thank you, Mr. Bennett.
Is there anybody else who wishes to speak on
behalf of the applicants?
MR. EDWARD A. PITTS: I reside at 1+91 West
k 182nd Street, Gardena, California.
I want to add more evidence to what Mr. Hutchins
6 stated, as far as the leasing campaign in the City of E1
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1 Segundo is concerned.
2 On December 13th or a few days before that I
3 1 called on several landowners in the City of E1 Segundo,
4 representing Mr. Pauley about the leasing of this area.
5 Some of them were not in favor of granting the permit
6 until Mr. Pauley made some commitment in a letter or some-
7 thing as to what he would do after this permit was granted.
8 I phoned Mr. Hutchins and told him the situation
s and he sent me a letter dated December 14, 19504 by Edwin
10 W. Pauley and Harold R. Pauley, signed by J. Barton Hutchins
11 I would like to submit this letter for evidence to back
12 up what Mr. Hutchins said, what their plans were in the
13 leasing of the E1 Segundo area if this permit is granted.
14 MAYOR SELBY: Would you care to read that letter,
15 Mr. Pitts?
16 MR. PITTS: Yes, I will. The letter reads as
17 follows:
18 "Mr. Edward A. Pitts,
P. 0. Box 192,
19 Gardena, California.
20 Subject: Pauley- Hyperion Oil and Gas
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Lease, E1 Segundo.
"Dear Mr. Pitts:
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You and I had some conversation over the
23 telephone last night concerning the above re-
ferred to Oil and Gas Lease, and, more particu-
24 larly, concerning certain objections that have
been raised by some of the good citizens of the
25 City of E1 Segundo toward the City Council
granting us a permit to drill for oil and gas in
26 the City of E1 Segundo and under the City of Los
25 drilling is completed.
26 4. We would be willing to soundproof the
U1'.L.L.L!.II`? , i u,
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Angeles Hyperion Sewage Disposal Plant.
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As you know, public hearings have been
held before the E1 Segundo City Planning
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Commission, with the result that the Planning
Commission has recommended thatthe City Council
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issue a permit for the drilling of a well. The
issuance of said permit would be conditioned by
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certain conditions that the Commission suggested.
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,
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Angeles Hyperion Sewage Disposal Plant.
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As you know, public hearings have been
held before the E1 Segundo City Planning
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Commission, with the result that the Planning
Commission has recommended thatthe City Council
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issue a permit for the drilling of a well. The
issuance of said permit would be conditioned by
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certain conditions that the Commission suggested.
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A review of the testimony before the
Planning Commission would indicate that the
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Planning Commissioners and the people in the
extreme western portion of E1 Segundo would be
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desirous of ascertaining the existence of an oil
pool under westerly El Segundo adjacent to the
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Sewage Disposal Plant and for this reason it is
suggested that perhaps a series of three commun-
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ity leases might be entered into which would
allow adequate tests to determine the existence
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of such an oil pool under E1 Segundo City.
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This letter will now confirm some thoughts
that I indicated to you last night in our
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telephone conversation.
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1. As I told you, we are desirous in the
first instance to cooperate to the fullest
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possible extent with the people of E1 Segundo
and with the City Council and Planning Com-
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mission.
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2. If the owners of the property westerly
of the proposed E1 Segundo freeway or parkway
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will join in community leases we shall be happy
to negotiate such leases and do all drilling
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under them from the leases that we now have on
the unsubdivided extreme westerly portion of E1
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Segundo. As you know, this would indicate that
no drilling would have to be on these community
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leases.
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3. We plan to skid the present derrick
that we have on the No. 1 well over to the next
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location and as soon as drilling is completed
on the proposed new well, we would then remove
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the derrick. We have already made a contract to
skid the derrick and then remove it after such
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drilling is completed.
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4. We would be willing to soundproof the
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derrick during drilling operations although such
an operation would cost us considerable money,
as you know. However, because of the demand for
such type of rigs we should know as soon as
possible if we are to be granted the permit. We
now have such a rig tied down for a week or so.
5. We would follow the rules of good house
keeping on our lease and keep the surface condi-
tions in such shape that we feel there would be
no objection to the lease from an esthetic view-
point.
Would you be so kind as to contact as many
of the people that you can between now and the
weekend and see if there is any possible common
ground on which we can get together in order to
eliminate any serious objections before the
meeting of the Council next week.
We understand that an association is about
to be formed to represent those who protest the
granting of the above referred to permit. We are
certainly of the opinion that we can donduct our
operations in such a fashion that these good
people would not be opposed to the plans if they
could be contacted and if they understood how
anxious we are to cooperate with them.
For this purpose we are enclosing a signed
copy of this letter. You are authorized to
deliver the said copy or the original hereof,
to the spokesman for such a group. You can also
assure these good people that as soon as they are
ready to enter into community leases we shall
Immediately undertake the necessary steps and
you will be the head man in the leasing campaign,
and I now reiterate that any wells under the
community leases can be drilled from the present
lands that we have under lease.
It might be that we can go ahead with the
leasing campaign and request the Council to issue
only one permit at the present time, and leave
the rest of the permits and variances for future
determination before the Planning Commission and
City Council dependent upon the outcome of our
drilling operations on the presently planned
well.
If the residents of E1 Segundo have any
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further question would you be so kind as to so
advise immediately. We shall be happy to sit
down with them and discuss any of our problems;
as a matter of fact, you will recall that we
requested you last night to do so yourself if
you can.
Very truly yours,
EDWIN W. PAULEY & HAROLD R. PAULEY
By J. BARTON HUTCHINS."
MAYOR SELBY: Is there any objection, gentlemen,
to the admission of this letter into evidence? If not, the
Clerk will assign a number to it.
CITY CLERK McCARTHY: It will be marked as
Applicant's Exhibit No. 15 and received in evidence.
... Whereupon the three -page letter above
referred to was marked as Applicant's Exhibit No. 15 and
received in evidence ...
MR. PITTS: Thank you.
MAYOR SELBY: Is there anybody else on behalf of
the applicants?
MR. W. W. MURPHY: I reside at 741 Sierra,
El Segundo. I have been sworn.
Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen: I, like Mr.
Bennett, have no connection with Pauley or the Pauley
interests, but I do know that the figures he was giving
you as to the depletion of the storage were true. They
can be verified at the Oil Producers Association, or the
American Petroleum Institute of America.
25 whether we have anything or whether we haven't. That is I
26 the one reason. If there is no oil there, why, there is
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And I would like to see you grant this permit.
One gentleman said something about a well producing 37
barrels a day and it wouldn't make much difference. Well,
I will grant you that, but there were many wells during the
last war that produced 5 barrels and 10 barrels a day, and
all put together they helped quite a bit. And I don't
believe that Mr. Pauley expects to get the 47- barrel well.
And I hope that you grant him a permit!
MAYOR SELBY: Is there anybody else who cares
to speak in favor of the applicants?
MR. CHARLES CRAMP: I reside at 732 West
Imperial Highway. I have been sworn, and sworn at:
I have lived in this city for about thirty years.)
When we moved out there, there were two houses on Imperial
Highway. The only road that was out there was the old
country road, and the only improvements that were made out
there were made by an oil company that drilled a well right
across the street from my home, and that well never
bothered me any.
We bought that land for a home and speculation.
We built a fine home there, just as good a home as there
is in the City of E1 Segundo, and we are definitely in favor
of drilling a well for two reasons:
The first reason is that we will definitely know
whether we have anything or whether we haven't. That is
the one reason. If there is no oil there, why, there is
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DAVID ETTLESON, O►IICIAL COURT REPORTER - MUTUAL 7789
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no use getting excited about anything.
There have been a lot of things said in these
petitions about granting a permit for an oil well. Some
people have been told or have been under the impression that
they are going to drill a well in your backyard. There has
been nothing said about drilling a well in your backyard.
I attended all these meetings of the Planning Commission and
at those meetings everybody in the audience had an oppor-
tunity to be there and be heard. I think there was only
one gentleman, who is here tonight, who attended that
meeting and made a protest. Nobody else made a protest.
Being here thirty years, I know the country pretty well and
a lot of people have come in, in the last five, ten or
twenty years, and have built homes west of the so- called
oil area there. At one time the Planning Commission had
set aside certain zones that might possibly be drilled some-
time. This zone was never set aside by the City Council,
but the Planning Commission, by Mr. Whitnall, certainly did
locate two zones where they might drill for oil.
I don't think Mr. Pauley's representative told
you enough about this drilling. This spot they have, they
can slant -drill every piece of ground they have up there and
slant -drill from there clean down to Main Street. When they
start drilling, they go five or six hundred feet and they
slant from there on down. So nobody needs to worry about
a well being drilled in their backyard, because nobody is
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DAVID ETTLESON. orrwn r- e ------- ...._.._.
M-61
1 going to let them do that, nobody wants them to do it.
2 People on Main Street say, "Well, "'m a' in
g you.
3 I am against the whole thing because we don't want an'oil
4 well there.'
5 And I ask, "Why not ?"
And they say, "There is no oil down there, anywa
There is no danger in drilling an oil well there
We have blowouts but they are prepared for those blowouts,
► and I think that everybody in this City, if somebody came
I along at the end of the month and gave us forty bucks that
You would have coming from an oil well, one that you've
got over here in the sandhills, do you think you are going
to send it back? You bet your life you won't! You are
going to stick it in your sock. I am definitely for it.
I think I am entitled, by consideration, and I have enough
faith in this Council, that regardless of how many peti-
tioners are here or how many people in this audience here,
I am going to get a square deal.
Thank you. (Applause.)
MAYOR SELBY: Is there anybody else who wishes
to speak on behalf of the applicants?
I again repeat: Is there anybody else who cares
to speak on behalf of the applicants.
If not, then we shall hear from those who are
opposed to the drilling of an oil well on behalf of the
opponents.
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I MR. KAYE B. SWAN: I live at 714 West Palm
z Avenue, E1 Segundo. I have been sworn. I am speaking to
s you people here tonight as an individual. I represent
4 nobody but myself.,
6 I also want to apologize for the fact that I am
6 not a silver - tongued orator, I am not a member of the
7 Toastmasters Club. This is one of my first public appear -
8 ances. So if I stutter and if I stammer, it is only because
a of my nervousness, but I am here because I think that those
10 of us who are against -- and I am speaking against Resolu-
11 tion No. 87 -- I am here because I firmly believe that it
12 is not to the best interest of the City of E1 Segundo as a
1s whole, particularly to myself, a resident of E1 Segundo at
14 the far west end of Palm Avenue; as a matter of fact, the
15 last house on Palm, slightly elevated to get a beautiful
16 view of the proposed site:
17 I also want to make another apology: I have no
18 flag to wave! (Applause.)
19 I would like to make a simple statement: That I
20 am a veteran of the last World War. The property that I
21 own, on West Palm Avenue, consists of one - quarter of an
22 acre. I own the oil rights on that property. I stand to
23 gain much more than most of my neighbors, but I don't feel
24 that I stand anything to gain.
28 I said that I am speaking as an individual and
26 I want to qualify that to the extent that I am also acting
I