Videos From Oil EIR Scoping Meeting on July 24

The Environmental Impact Report (EIR) process has begun for the E&B oil production project proposed to be located in Hermosa Beach. This project is ultimately to be voted up or down by Hermosa voters sometime in the year 2014. The vote is to be had as a result of a settlement agreement made between the city and Macpherson Oil that supposedly ended the lawsuit brought against the city by the Macpherson Oil company as a result of the city’s ban on oil drilling that was voted by the people.

On Wednesday evening, July 24, an EIR “scoping” meeting, as part of the EIR process for E&B’s proposed oil-drilling, was held in Hermosa’s Community Center Theater with several hundred participants hearing a presentation of the EIR process, and then adding their “scope” of the EIR comments.

The city made a video recording and also a transcript of that meeting. You may now view the video on the city’s website. It is listed in the website’s video archives as the “E&B EIR Scoping Meeting Parts 1, Part 2, Part 3.   Or use this link to go directly to the video archive page:  or browse to https://www.hermosabch.org/ and then click on “agendas / minutes/videos” on the left side of the home page to arrive at the video-archive page. View the video titled Part 1 first as the three video parts may be displayed in reverse order.

The Hermosa Beach video servers are really bad so don't be surprise if your video viewing is choppy.  There are a lot of people interested in the topic and viewing the video.  Please be patient.  Sometimes the video works better using the browsers Firefox and Explorer.  Chrome does not work well.

You have until Monday, Aug. 12, to submit additional comments regarding concerns you desire to be included in the “scope” of the EIR. Submit those comments to the city by email (krobertson@hermosabch.org) or hand deliver them to Ken Robertson, Director of Community Development, city of Hermosa Beach.

We will be going through this video over the next few weeks and will publish highlights below. 

Hermosa Beach City Council Must Agendize Their "Oil Neutrality" Closed Session Agreement To Avoid Brown Act Violations

See Howard Longacre's letter to the City Council received and filed on the June 24 meeting.

Have The Rights of City Council Members To Speak On Their Own Been Muzzled By An Agreement?

Letter From Howard Longacre Letter to City Council May 20, 2013 (Item 4)

(Please excuse my typos below)

4)  Request for clarification as to any other ongoing confidential agreements (other than the March 2, 2013 settlement agreement itself) which have also been made by the City's staff and/or the City Council, and/or with any other entity regarding the oil issue.  

The March 2012 settlement agreement between the parties states that the City will take the necessary actions to have an election for the voters to vote Yes or No on lifting the ban on oil drilling in Hermosa Beach.  However, as long as an election does take place and is facilitated by the Council, is there anything that precludes any individual council members from stating to the press or to the public, inside or outside of a public forum, and on the record, of being for or against lifting the ban on oil drilling? 

Has in any manner the rights of any individual council member to speak on their own, or on their constituents behalf, been muzzled via any agreement by the council in closed session or otherwise?  This question has not been answered clearly in my and others' view and such is not specified in the settlement agreement, nor do I recall a debate on the agenda item in any public meeting where the council specifically voted to maintain a position of unanimous support to muzzle themselves.  Something seems to be missing here and apparently has a lot do with the perception the public has of the Council regarding the entire oil matter? (See article:  Did elected officials in Hermosa Beach violate the Brown Act.)

Complicating the issue is that rumors persist that more than one council member has made it very clear to some residents or business operators that they are either supporting or not supporting lifting the ban on oil drilling in Hermosa Beach.

Unfortunately, that all five council member appear to be stonewalling, on the record, the issue of what agreement they perhaps made behind the scenes indicates to many, if not most, that the Council is being disingenuous and playing politically coy, given that the oil drilling issue is far from new in the city.

Further, it is doubtful that even 1 in 20 of the electorate who actually vote on the oil drilling issue will make up their minds one way or the other, basis reading or understanding anything of the nuts and bolts of the EIR's likely mountain of esoteric data, E&B's application, the flood of mailers and propaganda barrages to be likely put out by E&B and others, or the underlying agreements with Macpherson that have been transferred to E&B or others, nor will they perhaps understand or trust the grandiose claims of revenue one way or the other or the safety or lack of safety claims E&B and others are making.  Thus,

4-a)  Are there any agreements written or verbal other than the settlement agreement as related to the question of lifting the ban on oil drilling, the election, confidential, or otherwise, that the public and press are not distinctly and formally aware, and understanding of?  This could include any issues agreed to by the Council members among themselves, such as that they would not individually take announce a public position on oil drilling until "XYZ" occurs, etc.   If there are any other agreements please disclose and clarify as best possible what purpose they are for, why they are needed, and when they are made.

4-b)  Is each and every council member free at this time to speak his own mind regarding lifting the ban on oil drilling, both inside or outside of a public forum, and/or to the press on the record?  Yes or No?  If No, this due to a specific binding agreement made by the full council among themselves, and if so why such agreement required when the settlement agreement is supposedly the full and complete agreement?

See Hiding Oil Money Point 3  

Who Owns Present & Future Oil & Gas Mineral Rights?

Howard Longacre Letter to City Council May 20, 2013

1)  Request for clarification regard the present and future ownership of the oil and gas mineral rights that were own by the City prior to the original agreement(s) with Macpherson.    

1-a)  Who owns / controls the City's original oil and gas mineral rights at the present time? 

1-b)  Who will  own/control the subject mineral rights if oil drilling IS NOT APPROVED by the voters, and for how long?  

1-c)  Who will own/control the subject mineral rights if oil drilling is approved by the voters and for how long? 

2)  Request for clarification regard the Oil Lease expiration data. 

2-a)  How many years remain on that oil lease? 

2-b)  Is the clock presently ticketing on that oil lease or has it been suspended due to the prior oil litigation, and if so is it still suspended and to when? 

2-c)  If oil drilling is NOT APPROVED by the voters what happens to the oil lease, ie. does it expire immediately, will it ever expire, will the clock continue to tick? 

2-d)  If oil drilling is approved by the voters what happens to the oil lease, ie. when does it expire, will it ever expire and if so when? 

Kit Bobko's Long History of Wasting Taxpayer Dollars For Personal Benefit (Letter)

Not pleased with Bobko (Beach Reporter Letter April 17, 2013) 

Hermosa ceremonial Mayor Patrick Bobko seems intent on endowing his own shallow worth with titles and accomplishments earned by others.

Bobko received a congressional appointment to the Air Force Academy around age 18. United States taxpayers expended some $500,000 for his four-year military education with expectation Bobko would serve as a career officer. But Bobko evidently scuttled the Air Force after serving the obligatory contract time, opting instead to return to regular college for two years and acquire a “philosophy” degree, followed by yet another two college years becoming a lawyer.

With his Air Force Academy “Captain” title and lawyer title in hand, but no significant private work accomplishment, Bobko then moved to Redondo Beach after obtaining a “go-for” municipal lawyer job, essentially again on the taxpayers’ nickel at the L.A. law firm Hermosa City Attorney Michael Jenkins then worked, while that firm was contracted with Hermosa Beach.

Bobko still works there, however, after working alongside Jenkins, Bobko moved from Redondo to Hermosa Beach and made his first failed run for Hermosa Council.

Recently Bobko used expensive council meeting time to, on his own, have a photo-op presentation ceremony for an El Segundo military officer, who had won an award and actually is making a career in the Air Force, and then further used that officer to ride with Bobko for more photo-ops in Hermosa’s St Patrick’s parade.

Now Bobko is using costly council meetings to “honor” Hermosans Bobko feels have distinguished themselves. It’s more Bobko photo-ops at city expense to self-aggrandize Bobko by using those who actually have some accomplishment.

Most offensive is that after wasting expensive meeting time and taxpayer money for smiley photo-ops in this council-election year, is Bobko’s clock-watching during the actual important business of council meetings.

Howard Longacre
Hermosa Beach

See this other Howard Longacre wrote about Hypocrites Bobko & Divirgilio Rant About Transparency

Howard Longacre Letter Regarding Several Matters Within Hermosa Beach City Council’s Jurisdiction

Click on the document to download and read the 12 page document

"E&B Won't Fool Hermosans" - Howard Longacre Letter

The Beach Reporter Letter February 6, 2013

Steve Layton, president of E&B Natural Resources, condescendingly portrayed 12 Hermosa residents who spoke out at a recent meeting as just those “remaining concerned” of E&B’s plan to drill 35 oil wells in city (Jan. 31 Beach Reporter letters).

Those residents and others are again having to give of their own valuable time and expenditures to challenge the insanity of drilling oil wells next to million-dollar homes in tiny Hermosa Beach. Now they’ve received this latest insulting, ignorant, and self-serving Kool-Aid response from Layton.
Why wasn’t Layton personally in attendance at the council/school board meeting when an E&B item was on the agenda? Is The Beach Reporter instead to be printing Layton propaganda responses every time Hermosa residents speak out in a public forum regarding E&B’s less than honorable deal, as made and signed secretly with Hermosa’s City Council?

E&B, with the outrageous secret help of Hermosa Councilman Michael DiVirgilio and Mayor Kit Bobko, and probably a few others behind the woodwork, has slickly weaseled its way into Hermosa Beach, a 21st-century city with stated goals fostering health, being green and carbon-neutral. And now E&B is to be drilling toxic oil wells?

E&B’s pitchman, Layton, has now moved himself into Hermosa Beach to better manipulate its 1.3 square miles of beach, ocean, residents, businesses and home-owners to E&B’s needs. E&B evidently views Hermosa’s electorate as being stupid and easily conned into returning to the 19th-century’s oil-drilling greed and ugliness.

If Layton actually believes Hermosa residents will be fooled into turning backward from a forklift pallet-full of smoke-and-mirrors documents, glossy PR and tempting elixirs to be dumped at their doorsteps and filling their mailboxes, than perhaps he needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Layton’s stuck in a dream and seems to have no clue that what he heard at the Jan. 23 meeting from those residents was merely the tip of the iceberg that E&B has so recklessly navigated into.

Howard Longacre
Beach Reporter Letter

Shame On You Hermosa Beach City Council. 13 Minutes of Shame