Signal Hill, CA - An Observation on Oil Wells
When one thinks about California, it’s easy to picture the land of beautiful National Parks, the Pacific Ocean, and landscapes that range from desert to redwood forest. You usually do not picture oil wells and pumpjacks in your neighborhood.
An oilwell pumpjack near a gated neighborhood in Signal Hill, CA.
The pumpjack is the most visible indicator of an oil well. While sometimes a gas well will employ a pumpjack to help extract water, they generally do not use a pumpjack. The pumpjack comes in different sizes. Some are as little as 5 feet tall (though rare), while many in use today are around 25-30 feet tall.
The environmental impact of an oil well is similar to that of a gas well, though with added concern. The oil well will frequently require the use of a pumpjack throughout its life, and numerous other surface assets may also be required, such as separating tanks and storage tanks. Oil gathering lines are run underground or along the surface of the property from the well to the tanks. Associated gas that is produced may require flaring. And, there is added concern for groundwater and surface water contamination if an oil leak were to occur. In more subjective terms, oil wells may be noisy, smelly, or just look unattractive.
Thus, with these concerns, it is interesting that oil wells and neighborhoods often intermingle. Especially in places where one might not expect it, such as in and around Los Angeles, California.
Oil well and pumpjack near housing in Signal Hill, CA.
About 100 years ago, oil was discovered in Signal Hill, California, which became part of the Long Beach oil field. Today, this field is still very active. However, over time and as the population grew in and around Los Angeles, so too did the neighborhoods surrounding the oil fields. Today, in Signal Hill, you will still find operating pumpjacks within a (literal) stones-throw to playgrounds, houses, shopping centers, and even cemeteries.
The number of oil wells in the LA area may surprise you. While exact numbers are hard to come by, there are over 1,500 oil wells in just the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. There are thousands more spread around the incorporated cities, such as Signal Hill. There are also as many “idle” wells, which are wells that have not been active in a couple of years, but have not been properly plugged either. Finally, there are many, many thousands of plugged oil wells. Of course, this begs the question of whether all wells needing to be plugged have been properly identified, and whether to the extent that they are identified, were they properly plugged (See our article on the Legacy of the Abandoned Well for more information about this interesting aspect).
In the above maps, accessible on the CalGEM GIS website, a green dot represents an active oil well, whereas a purple dot represents an “idle” but unplugged oil well. The gray dots represent identified and plugged oil wells. Of course, for the thousands of wells drilled in the early 1900s, there may not be records of where every well was located. Thus, it is possible some remain unidentified to this day.
Oil wells in Signal Hill, California.