Ventura County planning panel allows oil well flare despite Ojai's objections

A county planning panel has denied the city of Ojai's appeal of a 20-year permit extension for a petroleum operation, finding that traffic and air quality objections did not merit any further study.

Voting 3-1 Thursday, the Ventura County Planning Commission allowed Bentley Family Limited Partnership to continue operating nine wells on a ranch near the city limits at 12540 Creek Road.   

The only change from Bentley's current permit is full-time rather than emergency use of a flare to incinerate produced gas, Senior Planner Kristina Boero told the commission. The effect on air quality was "less than significant," and there is no significant health risk to Ojai residents, she said.

Commissioner Phil White, who represents the Ojai Valley, was the lone dissenter. He asked for additional analysis of the routes tanker trucks would take and air emissions. The facility is near a neighborhood with 44 homes. 

Commissioners Nora Aidukas, W. Stephen Onstot and Maggie Kestly voted to approve the permit extension. Commissioner Richard Rodriguez was absent.

"I have not heard one shred of evidence that would cause us to go back for further analysis," Kestly said.

The Ojai City Council appealed the July decision of county Planning Director Kim Prillhart amid questions over why city officials waited until three days before the appeals deadline to register their concerns. They had been notified of the proposal for close to two years, Prillhart has said. 

Prillhart sent a retired planning manager, Brian Baca, to answer any questions the council had to its July meeting. That created a dustup when the plain-spoken Baca questioned the council's process for hearing the item. Ojai Mayor Johnny Johnston complained to county Supervisor Steve Bennett, who then brought the matter to the Board of Supervisors at a public meeting. 

None of that rancor surfaced Thursday at the Planning Commission's 4½-hour hearing in Ventura. But Ojai City Manager Steve McClary made a pitch to the commission for additional study. 

McClary said the city was seeking a more comprehensive environmental study that would take into account increased traffic and housing built near the facility since 1984. He also sought more information on the risk of the flare in a hazardous fire area and possible alternatives.

The new permit limits the number of tanker truck trips to 12 one-way trips per week. In contrast, no limits were established in the existing permit.

The primary route would go from the project site to Creek Road to Highway 33. No accidents involving Bentley tanker trucks have been recorded in 30 years on the route, according to state data.

Ojai Councilman William Weirick objected to having trucks use what he called the most dangerous intersection in the Ojai Valley. He suggested routing trucks left onto Creek Road, then right on Country Club Drive, where there's a signal that helps drivers get to Highway 33.

"Let's use some common sense here," he said.

Onstot, though, doubted Ojai residents would tolerate sending another truck through town.

"My experience is every time we suggest running another truck through the city of Ojai, it's not only been no, but hell no," he said.

Bentley representatives said they need to operate the flare full time because they no longer have access to a pipeline used to transport natural gas to market. They have curtailed production of natural gas, but the wells still produce it as a byproduct that must be eliminated, officials said.

Mary Kirby, who lives in the Persimmon Hill neighborhood near the site, asked the commission to explore other options.

"If this were your neighborhood, would you want that around your homes?" she said.

Bentley analyzed half a dozen alternatives to the flare, but said none was economically feasible or practical. A seventh alternative, re-injection of the gas into the ground, would not work because of the geology in the area, officials said.

The city has 10 days to appeal to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Clif Simonson, who manages the large ranch on which the oil facility sits, said he was not sure it was over because of that possibility.

"We have spent a ton of time and almost two years in this process," he said,

McClary did not return an email seeking his reaction and the likelihood of an appeal.