120 new wells will be drilled to extract 200 million barrels of oil from beneath the wetlands and surrounding areas along the Newport-Inglewood Fault. Existing, healthy wetlands, Native American cultural sites, wildlife habitat, and waterways are at risk.
Why is this important?
Tongva and Acjachemen tribal nations, environmentalists, and community members have been struggling to protect and preserve the Los Cerritos Wetlands for decades. These wetlands, at the mouth of the San Gabriel River on the east side of Long Beach, were once a vast estuary that supported the large Tongva community of Puvungna. Due to flood control measures, oil drilling, industrial, commercial, and residential development much has been lost, and what remains (the best salt marsh in Southern California) is now under assault from Beach Oil Mineral Partners, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority, and other public and private entities supporting their project. Our immediate goal is to stop the extraction of 200 million barrels of oil from beneath the Los Cerritos Wetlands. The Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration and Oil Consolidation Project puts public safety and the environment at risk. 120 new wells will be drilled immediately adjacent to the Newport Inglewood Faultline, new pipelines will transport oil over the fault, and oil and wastewater will be stored and processed on site. Beach Oil Mineral Partners expanded oil operation will introduce dangerous slant drilling and water injection methods to extract oil and to reinject wastewater under the wetlands and surrounding areas. BOMP's wetlands "restoration", funded by selling pollution credits, will introduce toxic soil and water into our healthy salt marsh.
