HOUSEHOLDS IN PERIL RESIDENTS FEEL ABANDONED DESPITE DANGER.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Living atop an oil well has imperiled the health of Mario Flores' family and the six tenants of his small apartment building, not made them rich.

Beset by high levels of poisonous and explosive gases leaking from the well, long ago abandoned, the nine residents of the Rockwood Street apartment downtown - just a few hundred yards from the Belmont Learning Center - have fallen through the cracks of the city, county and state regulatory system.

Gas company inspectors found levels of methane gas so high that they worried an explosion could occur if they went much higher. So they turned off the pilot light in the water heater.

State inspectors got readings of toxic hydrogen sulfide 100 times the safe level - the highest their meter would go - so they recommended keeping the basement door open for ventilation.

Other state and county officials responsible for health and safety said they didn't have jurisdiction, pointing to the Fire Department, whose officials said city code makes no mention of what to do in such situations although much of Los Angeles is built on oil fields.

``We just want some answers,'' said Flores. ``We've had environmental people out here, the Fire Department. A lot of them come out to look at it. Then they go back to their places and never do anything. There have been no concrete answers from anyone.''

Flores and his wife scraped together the down payment for the three-unit building two years ago to provide a better life for their daughter, now 12. They said they were assured there were no problems, but the rotten-egg stench of hydrogen sulfide and their inability to afford up to $60,000 for repairs have left them desperate and afraid for their health.

They have good reason to worry, according to health experts.

Dr. Kaye Kilburn, professor of medicine at the University of Southern California and an expert on gas poisoning, was asked about the health threat based on recent tests by the state Division of Oil and Gas that got readings for hydrogen sulfide of 10 parts per million when below .1 part per million is considered safe for children.

``Wow! that's extremely toxic,'' Kilburn said. ``They're cooking in hydrogen sulfide; their brains are cooking in it. It's tragic and it's callous.''

Former state and county environmental regulator Angelo Bellomo, who played a key role in exposing similar dangers that led to abandoning Belmont after $175 million had been spent, said the system of regulatory protections is seriously flawed.

``If we've learned anything in the last couple of years, it's that we need to increase our vigilance when it comes to developments on top of shallow oil fields,'' said Bellomo, interim director of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Environmental Health and Safety Branch.

``This is not theoretical, but actual measurements that suggest a source of methane and hydrogen sulfide, which could endanger the residents of the dwelling. For regulatory agencies not to step in aggressively and to evaluate the extent of this risk is unconscionable.''

Tenant Caesaria Cerda has been complaining to state, county and local regulators since moving into her apartment in 1993.

``We're not indifferent, we care, but he's in a bad position with that oil well down there that no one is taking responsibility for,'' said fire inspector Luke A. Milick.

He said abandoned oil wells aren't dealt with in the city's building and safety codes. The best option might be to abandon the building, he said.

``But in real life, you can't do that. Maybe in some cities, the health department would say, `You can't live here.' But that's not a very humane way of dealing with the problem,'' Milick said. ``And I don't have the law behind me.''

The tenants in the downstairs apartment where the odor is strongest are Johana Sanchez and her husband, a mechanic. She is pregnant and is worried about birth defects, but the $350-a-month rent is all they can afford.

The Sanchezes have moved their bed to a corner where the rotten-egg smell is less noticeable.

``At first, we got headaches,'' she said. ``Now we don't notice.''

On Aug. 21, Southern California Gas Co. inspectors turned off the pilot light on the basement water heaters to prevent an explosion.

California Division of Oil and Gas technicians then went to the house and got readings for hydrogen sulfide as high as their instruments would record.

``What the level exactly was, we don't know,'' said Richard Baker, district deputy for the Division of Oil and Gas.

Inspectors gave the same advice they've provided since their first visit to the triplex Feb. 17, 1993: Open the basement door and hire a private consultant to find and fix the leak.

Even when the basement was fully ventilated, however, the hydrogen sulfide was measured at 1 part per million, right at the safety line.

Flores said he got a quote from a geologist of $15,000 to study the oil well, and $45,000 to properly cap it. With minimum-wage jobs, the Floreses have no money for the repairs, having already taken out a second mortgage.

For seven years, Cerda has waged her own unsuccessful battle with two owners and numerous regulators. Retired, she says she can't duplicate the rent elsewhere in the city.

Oil and gas investigators who first came to the property in 1993 told Cerda to be careful and get professional advice on mitigating the oil well.

Baker, the state official, said portions of the building would have to be torn down enough to expose the leak before the state could assist in repairs.

Phil McAlmond, president of McAlmond Oil Co. Inc. that operates 10 oil wells near the Floreses and owns the mineral rights under the apartment, said the well is typical of those closed up years ago without proper sealant. He said gas seepage is a well-known problem, which the school district should have known about when it purchased the Belmont property.

``There were 1,250 oil wells in this field in the early 1900s,'' McAlmond said. ``To pretend there was no gas seepage when there's gas seepage all over was to ignore reality.''

Cerda said she finally went to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services in 1966 and got inspectors to visit.

``They came out and scared the heck out of me,'' she said. ``They said, `Don't close the windows.' But then after a while, they finally said there was nothing wrong. I asked them for a letter saying it was safe. I never got a letter. When I asked, they said they couldn't send such a letter.''

County records show investigators visited the triplex April 2, 1996, and traced the smell of ``rotten eggs'' to the basement but their equipment was inadequate to get a reliable measure.

The county file shows Cerda was told to contact a certified geologist, and in the meantime to install an exhaust fan in the basement to force the contaminated air outside.

The fan never was installed, but at some point a pipe was shoved from the basement through an outside wall. Inspectors said the vent does not appear to meet city codes.

Samuel Banuelos, the neighbor closest to the pipe, says he has to keep all his windows closed to keep the smell of hydrogen sulfide out of his house.

``I reported it 15 to 20 years ago to the Fire Department, and they put in a pipe, but it doesn't help,'' said Banuelos, a retiree who suffers from prostate cancer. ``Everyplace around here is a problem. You can smell the contamination.''

For Mario Flores, a former Mexico City street singer who has struggled to make a better life in Los Angeles, the crack in the regulatory system offers no way out of his dilemma.

``This was my American dream. We worked so hard to get it,'' he said. ``I'm at the point where I'm afraid I'll just have to live with the situation - or die with it.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

From left, Caesaria Cerda, Mario Flores and his daughter, Jocelyn, stand outside their building, which is near the Belmont Learning Center. They feel abandoned by government.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer

Map: Gas danger at apartment building

Staff Graphic