BELMONT SAFETY-VALVE WELL HALTED.

Byline: Greg Gittrich Staff Writer

Los Angeles school officials halted drilling of a well at the site of the Belmont Learning Center despite warnings it was needed to prevent the oil field beneath the nation's costliest high school from building up pressure and erupting, the Daily News has learned.

Confidential documents show officials deleted references to explosive methane gas from a proposal to abandon and replace the oil well before sending the report to the state Division of Oil and Gas for approval.

The state signed off on the plan and supervised the district's efforts to move the well, located near second base of a proposed baseball field on the property, to the outer edge of the site.

The original well was sealed with concrete and abandoned, but work on the replacement well was suspended indefinitely after assurances from an LAUSD consultant that public safety would not be threatened, district records show.

Since then, a new series of tests has found potentially explosive levels of methane gas at the site of the abandoned well and determined methane is pervasive throughout the 35-acre site.

Informed about the documents obtained by the Daily News, the LAUSD's general counsel, Richard K. Mason, asked for an investigation of the methane gas questions and the decision against drilling a well to relieve pressure.

In a memo Monday to Don Mullinax, director of internal audits and special investigations, Mason said the Daily News pointed out there appears to be two versions of the report.

``The first version makes reference to methane, while the second version, apparently sent the following day, does not,'' he said. ``I am puzzled by this discrepancy, and am of the opinion it warrants the attention of your office.''

New questions about how Belmont was handled add fuel to today's public meeting at which the school board will consider temporarily halting construction of the half-completed complex while deciding whether to finish or abandon it.

The decision not to drill a replacement well was made after the LAUSD environmental assessment coordinator for Belmont concluded it was not ``cost effective to complete and operate.''

Richard Baker, a deputy director of the state Division of Oil and Gas, said he advised drilling a well for safety but backed down at the LAUSD's opposition.

``They decide what to do. We assist as problem solvers to make sure everything is done safely. We can only make recommendations. They decide.''

Recent soil and gas vapor samples taken near the site of the now abandoned second-base well put the methane gas concentration at 90 percent, more than 18 times the level that could explode.

Baker and district officials said the replacement well and the pressure building in the oil field are monitored weekly and no imminent danger exists.

Allan Spivak of Duke Engineering and Services, formerly known as Intera, who consulted on the well, refused to discuss the difference between the report he submitted to the LAUSD and the version forwarded to the state one day later.

After state oil and gas officials learned about the plan to build a school at a downtown site atop the Los Angeles City Oil Field in 1989, they repeatedly warned about potential hazards of constructing any other large structure on a shallow oil field and noted methane as a significant concern.

The district moved ahead and on Oct. 2, 1996, Spivak asked the state to allow the LAUSD to abandon the second-base oil well.

``It has been the position of the (state) in the past that this well is required as a pressure relief well for apparent increasing pressure in the Los Angeles City Oil Field, to mitigate potential oil seep and gas hazards,'' Spivak wrote. ``We are of the opinion that this well provides negligible pressure relief for this reservoir.''

Baker rejected the request and, on Nov. 18, 1996, told a school board meeting of his concerns before the final environmental impact report was approved.

Baker said pumping the well would keep the oil field's ``pressure down as much as possible.'' By reducing the pressure, he said, there would be ``less chance that any of those old poorly abandoned wells . . . abandoned at the turn of the century . . . will extrude any oil and gas to the surface.''

Bruce Manley, the late owner of Manley Oil Company, which monitored the wells before the LAUSD bought the site, told the same board meeting that the second-base well is the shallowest of five wells operating on the property and noted it produced seven barrels of oil and 70 barrels of water per day.

``There is a noticeable amount of gas that can detected from this well,'' Manley said. ``(The well) is relieving pressure in this area and is the school's No. 1 safety well.''

When the well was operating, natural gas seepage eased, he said.

``Once these seeps begin, it's almost impossible to stop them. I've seen 18-inch concrete floors buckle and break due to hydrostatic pressure. We all remember the fires at Fairfax. They were eventually brought under control by drilling safety wells . . . If this well is removed and the property's impacted or the neighbors are impacted, the school could be held liable.''

Three days later, school officials and Spivak met with state officials to discuss abandoning the well, drilling a slant well at another location and installing a third to vent methane from the site.

Two months later, Spivak submitted a 13-page report to the district. Marked ``Confidential: Attorney-Client Privilege'' and dated Feb. 3, 1997, the analysis described various ways to replace the second-base well, LAUSD No. 1A.

``The associated gas produced from LAUSD No. 1A well, which is mostly methane, is currently vented to the atmosphere,'' Spivak wrote.

``The best place to bottom a methane gas relief well would be upstructure from LAUSD No. 1A. However, as shown on Exhibit 5 (a map), the portion of the reservoir upstructure from LAUSD No. 1A is not on school lands.''

``Therefore, although a methane relief well would be desirable, there is no suitable location for such a well on LAUSD lands.''

The next day, Spivak sent the report to Baker but it was not marked confidential and did not mention methane.

No attempt was made to drill a methane-relief well, district records reveal.

The district completed capping the second-base well and drilling and preparing its replacement by Nov. 3, 1997, according to state records.

Concerned when costs jumped from $99,000 to $317,000, the district opted to install a temporary pumping unit at the new well to determine whether it was needed to reduce oil pressure under the site. Seeing no change in pressure, Lui wrote Baker in July 1998 requesting to cap and monitor the well.

Lui asserted ``public safety is not being compromised'' and noted the well ``will not be cost effective to complete and operate.''

In a Sept. 3, 1998, letter to Lui, Baker agreed to the request.

``The ultimate decision to produce the well for pressure-relief purposes lies with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and according to your recent letter, you stated that public safety is not being compromised through the proposed alternative.''

CAPTION(S):

Drawing

DRAWING: (Color) BELMONT SAFETY WELLS SEALED OFF

A slant well recommended by the State Division of Oil & Gas to replace the ``No. 1 Safety Well'' on a baseball field of the Belmont development has been abandoned. There are currently no plans to replace either of these wells despite warnings that the oil field beneath will repressurize.

Vapor test: Recently showed 90% methane gas

Original oil well: Sealed with cement

Replacement oil well: Being monitored

SOURCE: Daily News research

Bradford Mar/Staff Artist