PASSING JUDGEMENT, PASSING GAS
Residents join with developers to debunk KNBC reports on the threat of explosive methane gas to Play

http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/passing_judgement_passing_gas/2276/

By Annette Stark
Five years ago, Steve Donnell put his name on a waiting list for a new Playa Vista town home. Purchase price: $750,000. He and his wife moved in 18 months ago and have spent another $50,000 on improvements so far - marble floors, window treatments, and crown molding. Then - on May 25 and on June 27 - two KNBC news specials warned ominously that their expensive new home in the massive Westside development sits on a virtual landmine of explosive methane gas.
Despite that, Donnell says they have no "absolutely no intention" of moving. Nor do his neighbors, whom Donnell insists were never approached by KNBC to contribute their views. They aren't alone: Some residents and activists are startled to learn that there are forces who still consider this decade-long debate to be unresolved - especially considering the project's very public history. (See "Bubbling Trouble," CityBeat, June 16.)
Environmentalists began opposing the construction of Playa Vista more than a decade ago, and the history of the methane discovery dates back to at least the late '90s. By 2000, the Los Angeles Times had reported on it extensively, and as a result of efforts by environmental groups such as Environment Now, Friends of Ballona Wetlands, and the Grassroots Coalition, the city was forced to act. So in 2002, the Building and Safety Code was modified to require elaborate gas mitigation systems at new developments such as Playa Vista. These systems include vents, alarms, and a gas sealant (membrane) placed between the ground and a building's foundation.
Also as a result of the 2002 code, structures that were built after 1986 in methane -saturated areas such as the Fairfax District were required to be retrofitted with gas mitigation systems. (Still, engineers and geoscientists will attest that much of this city is sitting on a ton of un-vented gas) And when the L.A. City Council overwhelmingly approved Phase II last September by a vote of 10-1, many on both sides considered the subject closed. Others saw environmental contributions from Playa's developers as compensation for the traffic and other anticipated "blights" large developments can potentially inflict on an area.
Playa developer Steve Soboroff says, "I think we're doing great things to make the beaches cleaner, the freshwater marsh, we adopted 16 squirrels. I'm proud of this as a great neighbor. I'm confident that people will drive by, fly over, or walk there and say 'I'm glad those guys were here. I'm glad they built what they did.'"
Some environmental groups that originally opposed the project have softened their stance. "I would have loved to have kept it open space," admits Ruth Lansford, Friends of Ballona Wetlands president. "But considering the other developments that are going up around here, this was done well. They dotted every I and crossed every T."
But, if there is one thing KNBC's series (titled "Burning Questions") made glaringly obvious, it's that the opposition to Playa Vista - at least as far as the methane is involved - is still very much alive.
"I'm not surprised," says Soboroff. "The rhetoric is a sport for [the opponents]. Our residents tell me over and over again that they resent the fact that a handful of extremists have shopped their theories for years to anybody who will listen, regardless of the facts. And the proof of it is that not many people buy what they're selling. The courts, the city agencies, the state agencies say the same thing. It's a beautiful and safe community."
Officials at the L.A. Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) are quick to indicate that Soboroff has a point: Methane is an old story in Los Angeles and the standards the city requires at Playa Vista are the strictest in the country. Hence, Playa residents we spoke to cited areas where the gas has not been mitigated - such as Venice, Santa Monica, and nearly all of the Westside - as more dangerous. "Truthfully I'm more comfortable living in an area where they have taken proactive steps," Donnell says.
With this much methane seeping out of the soil, most people following the situation believe that it's coming from natural sources in the ground. Nevertheless, Grassroots Coalition's Bernard Endres and Patricia McPherson have alleged for years that much of the Playa gas is coming from an old SoCal Gas storage facility that is located about a mile and a half down the road. They have also advanced the possibility of a leak under the Fountain Park apartments and another near the town house area. Both, they contend, stem from failures of the gas mitigation membranes. And then there are the gas bubbles, which the Coalition and KNBC showed rapidly percolating in nearby creeks.
Critics of the group - which includes officials at LADBS, SoCal Gas, many civil engineers, Playa residents and developers, and even some environmental groups, claim these allegations are unsubstantiated.
"Much of the methane is natural - not the kind that comes from the gas company," insists Lansford. "The methane bubbles in the freshwater marsh are also. Swamps have natural methane in them and as long as it disperses in the air I don't think it creates any problem at all."
According to city engineer Colin Kurnabe, the bubbles are "naturally occurring gas that can be found throughout this area. If you put water over methane in dry ground, methane will bubble up through the water."
The reality is that methane gas (also known as marsh gas) is bubbling in every pond, most creeks, and some lakes in America. But methane gas in a creek or lake vents into the air and is extremely unlikely to explode.
If the creeks were filling up from a failure of the Fountain Park membrane, LADBS spokesperson David Keim insists the city would be the first to know. "That's why we've gone to such lengths to make them [Playa developers] install such elaborate alarms. We require them to do annual reports on this project to determine if any gasses are leaking. If they find anything they are required immediately to do repairs. But there is no empirical evidence to suggest that the membrane is leaking."
According to the city fire department, there have been some false alarms, but Keim attributes this to a hypersensitive system. "That's true of some alarms. Not just gas. Even burglar alarms."
In fact, residents say there have been some notorious glitches in the alarms. Donnell recalls: "Where some people are staining wood and there were fumes, there might have been some false alarms. When that happens we're all informed. And it gives us assurance that the system is so sensitive to all kinds of fumes, if there was enough gas at Fountain Park that they could set it on fire, our alarms would have been going off."
Soboroff even remembers an incident when Windex set off the alarm. "It was a Sunday morning and the ammonia or something triggered the alarm system. It was in the beginning and nobody knew what to do."
As to the allegations regarding the leaking gas storage facility, SoCal Gas spokesperson Peter Hidalgo insists there are more than 300 such facilities in the U.S. "Some date back to the 1930s, and others are being built now. The technology is safe and reliable.
"Our storage site has been there under our jurisdiction since 1940."
The Grassroots Coalition declined to answer any questions from CityBeat, including by e-mail, but recently corrected its website to reflect the paper's June 16 article, which quoted City engineer Colin Kurnabe calling the Coalition data "unsubstantiated." The Coalition had indicated that Paraseal GM is not an HDPE (high density polyethylene shield) and therefore unsuitable as a gas sealant. As CityBeat reported - and Grassroots corrected - Paraseal GM is an HDPE.
However, LADBS officials indicate there are still corrections to be made. Among these are allegations that Paraseal is not licensed by the city as a gas sealant, and that it was not used elsewhere. "They used Paraseal in La Brea and Fairfax," Kurnabe informs.
CityBeat located Research Report 25425 - the city's approval document for Paraseal GM as a gas sealant - online at the LADBS website. There is also a copy on the Tremco website, which manufacturers Paraseal GM.
Keim says that, to the best of his knowledge, no one has requested a copy of this report. Regardless, the LADBS expects the debate to continue. "I understand how they feel and - God bless them - it's not that we doubt or question this concern," Keim insists. "It's just their manner of alarming people who are living and working out there and their manner of not verifying facts."
Published: 06/30/2005