A map of gas pipes that run through the SCV. See The Signal story for more information. Map from npms.phmsa.dot.gov. The yellow line is City of Santa Clarita boundaries
- Santa Clarita has three natural gas pipelines like the one that exploded in San Bruno California last week, killing several people. The Signal talked to PG&E about our pipes (side note, doesn’t Southern California Gas handle this? Not PG&E? Paging Mr. Farley) and the company said it can’t say what caused the San Bruno explosion so it can’t predict whether other pipelines are dangerous. The City’s emergency preparedness document says the pipelines would be at risk during a major earthquake. One of the pipelines in the image above appears to run near Golden Valley High school. SIGNAL, NTSB PIPE SITE
- Ed Masterson, a former aide to Cameron Smyth, and interim leader of the SCV Chamber of Commerce, has stepped down from that role after only four months. Masterson told the SFVBJ he felt the Chamber deserved someone with more experience, and that his experience is in public relations, not so much the business community. He also told the Signal that he was looking for work elsewhere. Charlie Gill will take over the role of President and CEO. SFVBJ, SIGNAL
- Republican National Committee Chairman and hip-hop impresario Michael Steele is coming to Santa Clarita, if a widely distributed email is to believed. A local Republican email says the Chairman will visit the Santa Clarita Republican Headquarters, which has moved way up Golden Valley way near Dick’s Sporting Goods. The Chairman will be here October 5 and the email says if you make 500 phone calls for Republican causes, you can get a “private reception and photo with Michael Steele.” Off the hook!
- Wow: Did you know that nearly 700 students in the William S. Hart school district are considered homeless? KHTS reports in the context of the continuing terrible economy, saying scores of students live in shelters or hotels and motels. Most live with other families. One local group is trying to help, saying it’s heartbreaking that some students “can’t apply for scholarships because there is no address to fill in on the application.” Other students have to work at full time jobs just to help their families. KHTS
- SCV Senior Center gets a new director following Brad Berens resignation. James Morgan, a “a longtime nonprofit executive with a knack for raising money” will take over the Newhall organization that serves 35,000 seniors in the SCV. A senior delivers today’s money quote of the day, when asked what he thinks of Morgan: “I think he is a very calm man. He’s a good calming influence.” SIGNAL
- SCV Parents sending their American kids to SCV International Charter school program SIGNAL
- Just prior to the Santa Clarita Marathon in November, the City and Mayor Weste will host the first annual 2.6 mile Mayor’s Walk and pancake breakfast at the City Hall parking lot.
- A lot of people feared that the Tea Party would become a third party in American politics. Not so says the LA Times, which reports that the Tea Party has merely taken over the Republican party, pushing it further to the right with eight Tea Party-backed candidates for the United States Senate. The power of the Tea Party hasn’t come without some friction though: Republicans are actually attacking Karl Rove -KARL ROVE!- for his attacks on Christine O’Donnell, the Senate candidate from Delaware. LA TIMES, TALKING POINTS MEMO
- Speaking of Tea Party, Chris Lim, a local Tea Party organizer, advises his followers to vote for the most conservative candidate possible, not just someone with an (R) behind his name. TEA PARTY SCV
- Oh and one more for the Tea Party set (and others who might be interested). Buck McKeon’s office will be handing out free pocket copies of the US Constitution tomorrow at his office on the Old Road. Certain restrictions apply (only two Constitutions per family, or twenty per non-profit group) MCKEON.HOUSE.GOV
- Anti Buck McKeon website posts “Buck Stops Now” commercial on YouTube. Not clear if this will actually air, but the mandatory disclosure at the end of the ad is full of anti-Buck angst, so if you’re into that kind of thing, ENJOY
- NBC 4 Politics blog asks for your impressions of library outsourcing to private, for-profit companies like LSSI. Who knows, maybe they’ll do a story. NBC 4
- Letter writer complains that former Hart Supe was given seven years of health care on the taxpayer’s dime while students get shortchanged with five fewer days of instructions LTE
- Lynne Plambeck’s opening salvo ahead of next month’s OVOV meetings. A sample: The City of Santa Clarita, founded to promote local control, now tries to “exclude” local input, and OVOV, at buildout, is designed for 500,000 future SCVers, a vision that is “unsustainable.” SIGNAL
- The Gitlin-Kellar-NotaFerryFan xenophobia troika is at it again, NAFF’s latest YouTube is HERE
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Jeff, the gas pipeline does NOT run under Golden Valley High School. During site construction, the Santa Clarita Valley Facilities Foundation moved the pipeline to its current position. It was an amazing feat, actually. The 90 degree angle you see on the map is the new pipeline that goes around the school.
psssst….he said ‘near’
You’re correct. I read the text too quickly this a.m. “Near” is quite accurate.
The problem is that under 5 California Code of Regulations Section 14010(h) school SITES are not supposed to be any closer than 1500 feet from a high pressure natural gas line. (See main comment below.)
Both the GVHS school buildings and the school site including the parking lot and tennis courts are way closer than 1500′. The fire risk is compounded by the fact that the Santa Clarita Facilities Foundation sold off the “front lawn” of GVHS, along Golden Valley Road, for homebuilding, which means that the wooden housing is right next to the gas line, providing timber to intensify a gas main line break fire.
The two 24″ and 30″ high pressure natural gas lines near GVHS are not owned by Southern California Gas, but instead by a huge gas pipeline corporation with main offices in Houston. Their huge mirrored building in the Houston Galleria is called the “Death Star” by locals, if you catch my drift in terms of corporate responsibility issues.
In fact, when you study the video and maps of the high pressure natural gas main line explosion in San Bruno, the flames traveled nearly 1500′ because of the wind, so even the current set back requirement by the State may not be enough.
When Teresa, as a public relations representative, was intimately involved with Bob Lee in getting State approval for the location of GVHS, there was no such regulation, though both the Hart District Trustees and the California Department of Education were on notice of the gory details of the death of 12 people when similar high pressure natural gas lines exploded in Carlsbad New Mexico. The “burn radius” of that explosion was reported to be 1250 feet and we told both the Hart District and the California Department of Education so.
The big problem, in both Carlsbad and San Bruno, when the explosions occurred is that it took several hours to get the high pressure natural gas main lines turned off (2 hours in San Bruno) and then the gas left in the lines still had to burn off.
The bigger problem, in Santa Clarita, is that no one wants to bluntly talk about the safety risks associated with the choices of school sites which have already been made.
If, God forbid, there ever is such a gas main line explosion harming students or faculty at GVHS, all of the documents showing that the Hart District and the California Department of Education were negligent in choosing the school site are in a safe place, and can be put into the hands of plaintiffs’ lawyers within one day. The documents will not bring any lives back, or cure anyone physically harmed, but at least their families will have far swifter justice than if plaintiffs lawyers have to start from scratch.
The same is true if any of the other disaster scenarios relating to that school site occur: Natural gas transfer station explosion, oil drilling residue injection well explosion, anhydrous ammonia cloud leaking from the Berry Petroleum facilities and traveling to the school site, severe earthquake where seismic waves accellerate shaking because of the presence of a trace of the active San Gabriel Fault which sits right under Golden Valley Road.
What is very scary is that in anger Bob Lee said to us, when we were opposing the choice of the GVHS school site, that the Valencia High School site is far more dangerous.
That’s an investigative reporting story which someone should tackle.
By the way, in terms of high pressure natural gas main pipe line safety news articles, this one from the San Jose Mercury News is a WOW in terms of real investigative reporting:
http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_16096871?nclick_check=1
Last time I checked, the San Francisco Chronicle hadn’t written about the topic of that story. It kind of makes me wonder if PG&E has influence over the editorial policies of that newspaper.
I think Karl Rove’s recent attacks are actually part of a master strategy on his part to drive votes to the Tea Party. He is the master media manipulator that has worked miracles for the Republican party by craftily playing the news cycles. To quote an oft-used phrase used by my dearly departed mother, “That boy is slicker than owl sh*t!”
We are already seeing the fractures in the “Tea Party.” See this news in the LA Times about the Republican Party in Colorado asking Dan Maes, the gubernatorial nominee who famously stated that the City of Denver’s bicycling program was a UN plot, to drop out of the race before ballots are printed to support the independent candidacy of Tom Tancredo.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-colorado-governor-20100915,0,7136605.story
It turns out that party organizations do perform a function in vetting candidates in order to keep the cranks, nuts and light weights at bay. Look for a similar similar story in two to three weeks in Delaware.
Does Maes make Tancredo look moderate?
Wow – that’s perspective.
pushing it further to the right with eight Tea Party-backed candidates for the United States Senate.
The LA Times is always incompetent to offer opinion about anything Tea Party or conservative.
When was the Republican party ever “right” that the TEA party people are pushing it further right? I realize you guys gleefully enjoy snorting at what the Tea Party represents. I’m sorry, but pro-life, gun rights, and anti-gay issues is not necessarily a “right” position. It’s normal, American people positions. Besides, I would argue the conservatism being advocated by the likes of the main body of Tea party people is more of an Ayn Rand conservatism, not necessarily an Evangelical, red-state conservatism you all here tend to be afraid of.
The so-called “fracturing” is between entrenched country club Republicans and true conservatives who want to hold their party to true conservative values. Does the LA Times ever pontificate about whether or not the Democratic party has gone too much moon bat left? No. Because they think such a position is the norm, which goes to show you how out-of-touch with reality dinosaur media like the Times is.
FB:
You misunderstand my point. The “Tea Party” folks have core views that require reflective and respectful discussion and debate, BUT several Tea Party candidates have turned out to be lightweights and cranks. The money quote in the LA Times article on Maes was from a Tea Party activist who stated that “finding a candidate that has not been involved in government does not necessarily make them pure.”
Fred, “pro-life, gun rights, and anti-gay” are right-leaning issues. Not everyone on the right agrees on all three and not everyone of the left disagrees with all three, but to the extent one wants to restrict abortion, expand and preserve gun rights and oppose the extension of gay rights, it makes one more conservative.
The meaning of the Tea Party is hard to nail down because the answer you get from most people is that “the Tea Party is me”. I think an accurate description would be a rightist movement within the Republican party with an emphasis on taxation, but not to the exclusion of other issues. There is certainly a social conservative vein in the movement, but the movement itself is most popular in areas where elected Republicans have been more moderate (California, the Northeast, Upper Midwest, Florida, etc.).
It’s notable because there hasn’t been a movement this successful in defeating so-called “favorites” in primary elections, at least not in decades. The slate of Republican candidates running this November is going to be much more conservative that it would be without the Tea Party’s presence. This will mean those that win will lean further to the right and will probably mean that the GOP will lose some seats that they would have won otherwise (Delaware, for one).
I’m going to make a prediction now: the Republicans will take the House, but they will not take the Senate. My early guess is both that Angle and O’Donnell will loose and that together, those losses will make the difference. I’d further contend that both races would be easily winnable by mainstream Republicans.
err… lose
Anti-gay is not a “normal, American” position. You are a bigoted fraud and a sad excuse for a human being for thinking that.
You need to get out of your postmodern college campus and go out an touch real people. Leftist California is hardly normal.
Tim: It could be I overlooked your point, but I still judge the LA Times to be incompetent to offer any meaningful reporting on political matters. The paper is good for coupons on Sunday and not much else.
Since you’re so good at making judgemental statements, try squaring your belief with this one: I’m the child of a conservative Christian pastor and a 20 year native of Bakersfield, CA – hardly a “leftist” stronghold. Contrary to popular belief, bigotry is no longer the most popular way of life in mainstream America. I’ve got no problem with your gun rights (as long as they’re used responsibly) or your pro-life arguments (I vote for choice but actively speak against choosing abortion) but bigotry is not something that anyone who considers themselves Christian or even a decent human being should ever be proud of.
Well Said!
very well said
Here here!
Also, by the way, the Tea Party as it was started was in reference to economic issues only – specifically ones involving taxes. TEA stood for “taxed enough already” and made reference to the original Boston Tea Party which protested taxation without representation. You’ll notice that gun rights, pro-life and anti-gay stances are not mentioned there – those are trademark social conservative issues, not economic conservative issues. That’s why the Tea Party is getting so confused now – social conservatives, like our own Chris Lim, have jumped on the angry bandwagon and have completely diluted the original message.
True Conservative values revolve around finance & fiscal responsibility, not this “moral majority,” Jerry Fallwell & the neo-evangelical, fundamentalist christian, cheerleader hand job you and the rest of the teabagger nuts have been “RAMMING DOWN AMERICA’S THROATS” since the late 1970′s. And don’t preach to us about principles when teabaggers wouldn’t know a principle if one came and sat on their faces. Your local teabagger goons are caught weekly emailing, out and out lies which have long since been debunked by every urban myth website on the planet. What is so hard about telling the truth? Don’t lies make baby jesus cry?
Buy why let facts get in the way of good propaganda, Isn’t that right guy who believes in a magical book full of talking animals, friendly ghosts, scary monsters and guy that can do some sweet magic tricks. No Not Harry Potter… Try again.
Oh, so people who are anti-gun, pro-choice, and pro-gay rights aren’t “normal Americans”? You don’t get out of your close-knit circle much, do you?
I’m pro-gun rights, but also pro-choice and pro-gay rights. The great majority of my friends are pro-choice and pro-gay rights, and they split down the middle on gun rights. We’re Americans, too, and you’re to the right of all of us.
I don’t begrudge you your positions, as it’s your right to hold them. But don’t try to define who’s a legitimate American and who’s not. I’ve been working and paying my taxes my entire adult life, just like you, you know?
Guru,
Karl Rove is indeed slicker than owl sh*t, but in this case he’s honestly upset about some of his party’s nominees, because he believes they’re not viable general-election candidates, and will harm his party’s chances to retake Congress.
Tim’s comment that parties play a role in vetting candidates to weed out nutty candidates is exactly right. Unfortunately our party organizations are getting weaker, and the self-selected candidates who can bypass the party and appeal directly to a committed subset of the public are commandeering the nomination process. (That’s true for the presidency, too.)
Indeed you may be right, Hoosier. Rove has taught his people well and it might be that it’s come back to haunt him. The wack candidates (You know who you are) are masters at not answering the hard questions because they know they don’t have to…at least they didn’t for their respective primaries. Sharron Angle, Jan “Deer in the Headlights” Brewer and Christine O’Donnell know that if they just stay the course on their rehearsed responses and turn their answers into attacks on their opponents, most of the press and the public will move on to the next big news within 24 hours. Why answer pressing questions when you have no real answers …when it doesn’t matter anyway? Spending their time on the highly popular party-friendly Fox “News” doesn’t hurt them either when they’re lobbed softball questions designed to appease their audience.
Voters have been blinded into believing that news is truth, and the Internet contains all the information they need to know without having to go to the source to find the real answers to those pressing questions regarding their candidacies that will affect us all positively or negatively in the long run.
Berta:
Saw you at the Canyon Country Advisory Committee meeting last night getting irritated by the blenders in the kitchen and interrupting the speakers a couple of times. Too bad Tony Natoli “stole your thunder” but at least you got your viability of maglev question answered.
Since Tim Ben wasn’t there, I must not be him!!!
@NFIC, as usual your comments are inaccurate and insulting. You may have seen me at the CCAC meeting but I neither “interrupted speakers nor got the viability of maglev question answered”.
I asked questions, and corrected Glenn Adamick when he said Lost Canyon was in front of “Pinetree School”. What he meant to say was Pinecrest School and Glen thanked me for the correction. I would also add CCAC meetings were never designed to be lectures. We as a committee were always very hands on and participatory. If you choose to sit there in silence without questions that is fine. It is only in recent years that it has become exclusively the Al Ferdman show.
As to my remarks on the high-speed train, Dave with CA High Speed Rail had already heard my remarks, which Tony echoed last night, at several previous meetings including the City Council Study Session last week. Tony did not “steal your thunder” but in fact concurred with my previous comments. However, I had not asked nor heard the response at any previous meeting how often trains would run until I asked the question last night. Basically continuously, since these really loud trains will run every ten minutes going North and every ten minutes going South. They are not looking at Maglev trains at all. I have plenty of “thunder” left, on this topic as well as others, but thanks for your “concern”.
If as you claim, you are not TBB then I would worry that you have no individual identity. Your constant derogatory remarks especially against the City, your attacks against anyone with an opinion differing from yours, and your distaste for anyone not acknowledging TBB as “the savior”, and other characteristics are REMARKABLY the same as TBB’s. TBB has enough loyal supporters present, including Al Ferdman that can provide a play-by-play account and video, so I am not convinced by your disavowal.
I do not know if it is because Bob Kellar has attended the last two meetings or whether it is because of my continuing complaints regarding the lack of democratic meeting norms but last night we actually took a vote to award a well deserved “Hometown Hero Award” (not mentioning who in case it is a surprise). We have not taken any policy votes in several years. Al also called on me when I raised my hand to speak without passing me over once, did not insult or try to silence me, and allowed me to ask a 1-minute question under a new “public participation” process regarding the new Santa Clarita Neighborhood Council he mentioned. All are decided improvements to his past behaviors.
Al unfortunately still skews comments to portray City Staff as bad guys and liars as he did again last night regarding Darren Hernández and the library issue and pushes his individual “take” on any given situation. As Chair his job is to present unbiased facts and let us ask questions, discuss issues etc and PARTICIPATE but not skew comments to predispose people to take an adversarial position. He should be free like anyone else to state his individual opinion but not as part of the presentation. He gets one vote to support or opposes just like every other eligible voting member. His efforts to influence unduly CCAC members as well as Council, etc, are among Al’s greatest flaws as Chair, especially since his “facts and figures” are frequently wrong. He does not come back to the group and correct erroneous impressions. Before Council etc he does not make clear that he is speaking on his own behalf giving them and others the false impression WE have agreed with HIS position, a direct violation of CCAC By-Laws. Even “former Councilman” TBB makes it clear when he is not speaking on behalf of the Canyon Theatre, etc.
I thought the Moose Lodge was a fine venue. There are a few kinks to work out but in fairness, I noticed that Al did ask the kitchen ladies to cool the margarita blender and loud chatter after my request for speakers to use the microphone since we could barely hear over the din.
We could definitely use a better projector screen too since that one was small and wavy, hard to read from a few rows back. Maybe we could take up a collection for a larger one and donate it to the club as a hostess (host?) gift. I would gladly pitch in. How about you “NFIC”?
Bertha:
I would have been more than happy to introduce myself (for a time I was sitting right behind you) but you were preoccupied talking to the lady next to you. I wasn’t about to interrupt your conversation to say hi and had to leave before the meeting ended.
If you recall, your the one who said Tony stole your thunder….
While Glen did misspeak about Pinetree vs. Pinecrest, it was rude of you to interrupt him and correct him. Notice no one else in the audience did that? Meanwhile, you just put forth a 5 paragraph diatribe about me, Al and TBB. Feel better now?
@NFIC, The name is Berta jacka$$. Pronounced bear (teddy or grizzly) tah.
For good measure, my last name is González with a “z” at the end-Harper.
I never said Tony stole my thunder so you need to brush up on your listening skills among other things. I said he stole some of my comments (an expression), which he did. Again, I do not buy your disavowals. I know the persons sitting directly behind me.
You once again intentionally misrepresent the facts to portray me negatively, another characteristic you share. It was “Marsha” a fairly new attendee originally from New York who kept asking ME questions and looking at my maps, which I tried to discreetly answer without disrupting speaker comments.
In addition, it was you who brought me into this SCVTalk.com conversation, so too bad if you do not like my comments.
Bertha:
I love your comments and the dialogue. I always find them shall we say humerous…
By the way, if you look at the major natural gas line map, there aren’t any near North Oaks\Whites\Soledad. Maybe there was just a smaller service line near your house. The ones mapped are 30″ +.
Now NFIC, call her by her correct name.
“The name is Berta jacka$$.” Or just Ms jacka$$ for short.
@Jerry, your name is not “Jerry” nor are you as anonymous as you think.
@NFIC, interesting coincidence that you misspelled the same two words that someone else using a well-known pseudonym did in emails sent to me recently. Careful, you are slipping…
I am pretty sure Need for Involved Citizenry is Nate or the Gangfanger… only they could invoke such rage from the Berta.
@Nate, I can tell all of you idiots apart.
If you believe you have ever seen “rage” from me thus far, you are mistaken. I hope you never do…
Ms J
What are you going to do? Call us all names and talk us all to death? Never mind, you already do that.
Clearly you have powers.
Glad to hear were all idots!
Bill Reynolds and Roger Gitlin: two bigots made for each other. These guys make Bob Kellar look like Rosa Parks.
Bill, ever think about taking an editing class and/or buying a Mac? Your videos are garbage, son.
Bill, what a moron… your videos still suck
He needs a spell check too! “Santuary” City??????
I can’t wait to tell Bob that he is being likened to Rosa Parks.
I love those videos! They look like the max headroom on-air hack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj1mUk04_ho
Also, as usual, I’ve enjoyed Bertha’s comments.
On the homeless student story:
I am sure it is a real problem and from what I hear Family Promise, which I believe started at the Real Life Church, is a completely legitimate operation, but this is a strange way to promote their particular fundraiser. I am still wondering about where these “Foreclosure” signs are that are being pounded into front yards like financial scarlet letters. Also, since nearly all scholarship and college applications are now web based, the need for a home address is somewhat negated, though I am sure ANY counseling office in the Hart District would happily accept snail mail correspondence on behalf of a homeless student.
Started at Valencia United Methodist.
Tim,
Family Promise of SCV is a non-denominational organization, which currently has 9 host congregations in the SCV. The Box City fundraising event is being held on Sept. 25 & 26 at the Real Life Church, but many other congregations are involved in the planning and organization of this event.
Family Promise of SCV is affiliated with a national network.
Family Promise is a nonprofit 501(c)3, non-denominational organization for families in transition committed to helping low-income families nationwide achieve lasting independence. In more than 150 communities across the country, Family Promise networks provide safe shelter, meals, and support services to get families back on their feet, while addressing the underlying causes of homelessness.
For more information about the organization, you can go to http://www.familypromisescv.org/
Wow! Those NotaFerryFan videos sure do get your liberal panties in a knot! Ha! And Lil Tim, good luck with your Tea Party wish. The Tea Party, Sarah Palin and NotaFerryFan own you liberals…
Okay, here we go 1……. 2…… 3…….. Hit the keyboards suckers… hahahaha!
Bill:
Actually trying to wake up from that video. Nodded off towards the end.
NtaFF pwnz noobs, nay- pwnz libz. B177 is 1337.
B177 iz mor KKK thn 1337
Funny that Bill uses a third person to decribe himself…no Billy, your videos stink and are sooo boring …please have a point with your videos and we don’t wear panties, but what color do you buy when you go to Victoria’s Secret? and Billy how exactly do you own liberals…. ???
Paging Bertha…
Bill’s lame high-school-football-coach comments (e.g. panties in knot) is a bit misogynistic wouldn’t you say?
Bonnie aka NAFF,
Don’t steal my word punk, I own, “Own” just like I own you.
While attending the last City Council meeting to encourage the Council to reconsider their hasty choice of privitizing our Libraries, I had the pleasure of speaking to a reporter from the New York Times who was asking a lot of great questions about the topic. I hope they do run a story.
When I was on the Council, we would never have dreamed of ignoring 200 people who came to a meeting with many unanswered questions. At the very least we would have done as Councilman Kellar suggested and put off the vote until those questions were answered. I hope that it is not true, but some of Council just do not seem to be listening at all.
That SCVi Homeschool program is a really neat opportunity for local homeschooling families. We homeschool through Saugus District last year (a great program, for what it is, BTW) but were waitlisted for the SCVi program. It gives families the curriculum control of traditional (independent) homeschooling that you won’t get through the district programs (which uses the materials used throughout the district), but provides the resources and expanded social opportunities that the district programs offer (field trips, extracurricular opportunities, group learning opportunities). The best of both worlds.
@Jeff, it was a high-pressure gas line rupture during the Northridge Earthquake event that caused my tract of North Oaks in Canyon Country to be evacuated for many hours. The ruptured gas line is/was approximately under the intersection of Sierra Hyw and Soledad Cyn Rd. Our area is definitely at risk for high-pressure gas pipeline ruptures.
I don’t know what happened on Sierra Hwy, but the Gas Pipe that ruptured and caused Berta’s neighborhood to be evacuated was at the north east corner of Stillmore and Walnut Springs.
When it broke, it blew a hole in the street and you could see gas escaping into the atmosphere. Fortunately, it did not ignite. The evacuation was minor and I waited it out in the parking lot at Whites and Soledad.
What I found interesting is that the evacuation was called off before the line was fixed. Not very exciting.
@Alan, the Deputy Sherriff who came down my street and told me we had to evacuate said it was a gas line rupture at Sierra and Soledad so either he was mistaken, a distinct possibility with all of the confusion, or we were between two gas pipe/line ruptures.
All I know is I grabbed my blind neighbor who was alone as was I and we both waited hours in my little two seater Honda CRX car at the old Ralph’s (now Big Lots?) parking lot until they let us return home right before it got dark again. I had walking pneumonia at the time, so all the way around it was an uncomfortable experience. I am not complaining though since everyone was safe after all.
It is nice that you helped your blind neighbor.
@Nate thanks. I like to help people, always have. I believe in what goes around comes around and hope someone will help me too if I ever need it.
You are a good neighbor.
But a great neighbor would have brought a flask
@Nate good idea since I am sure my neighbor would have enjoyed a shot but I do not have a flask. As I mentioned, I was really sick with walking pneumonia. Besides, I hardly ever drink since unfortunately even one usually gives me a terrible headache!
Sounds like I need to buy Bertha a drink!
“GASALAND” A must see documentary about the natural gas industry and how they are destroying our waterways and land because they are exempt from environmental regulations, we keep hearing that natural gas is a clean energy source..but it’s how they get it that is the problem.. please see the documentary on HBO..it will shock you and make you mad.
FRACKING!!!!!!
sorry it called “GASLAND”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8
Don’t talk about fracking. There have been news stories in the past few days saying that the gas exploration and extraction companies in the East have been getting opponents of fracking silenced by police agencies invoking Patriot Act remedies.
As far as the meaning of the word fracking, to me it sounds like something guys do at their fraternity parties.
watch the documentary… you will be shocked
TWO HIGH PRESSURE NATURAL GAS MAIN LINES, LIKE THE ONE WHICH CAUSED THE HUGE FIRE IN SAN BRUNO, SURROUND GOLDEN VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Back in 1999+, after the William S. Hart High School District committed to build Golden Valley High School in its present location, but before the State of California had approved that school site, a high level scientist at California Department of Toxic Substances Control named “Nancy”, who lived near Santa Clarita, tipped off Cam Noltemeyer and me about TWO huge risks to students and faculty at the proposed school: High pressure natural gas main lines and a high pressure natural gas main line “transfer station” very near the school site.
The high level DTSC employee told us that there were 2 high pressure natural gas lines, 36″ and 24″ in diameter, which crossed the school site, heading towards the incredibly dangerous transfer station a place with pressurization pumps to increase or decrease the pressure in the natural gas main lines. The transfer station is south, southwest of what is now Golden Valley High School’s tennis courts, and is described below.
THE RISK CREATED BY THE HIGH PRESSURE NATURAL GAS MAIN LINES
The DTSC scientist told us these sorts of high pressure natural gas lines are some of the most dangerous features of urban areas.
High pressure natural gas main lines are much, much bigger than the natural gas lines in your street which feed your house. It terms of size, between a gas line in your street and a high pressure natural gas line, think of the difference in “holding capacity” and “horse power” between a small car and a freight train.
Around that same time as we began to oppose the construction of Golden Valley High School on its chosen site, one of these large diameter high pressure natural gas lines spontaneously blew up in New Mexico, near a camp ground, and a family of 12 was incinerated. One of the problems with that fire was that no one could get a hold of the Texas-based operator of that high pressure natural gas line, to shut it down after it exploded, so the fire burned for a long time. From news stories about that explosion, we calculated that the “blast radius” of that fire was 1250′ from the pipeline itself. Our calculations didn’t take wind into account, like we see on video of the San Bruno pipeline fire, so the blast fire radius from such an explosion is, in reality, much greater.
Given that there are two high pressure natural gas main lines, one 24″ and one 30″, right next to the high school, the risk of death and destruction from the explosion of one gas line is far greater than what we saw in San Bruno, because an explosion of one line would be likely to break the line next to it. Under current Federal standards, each of those high pressure natural gas main lines are less than 1″ thick, and are pressurized to at least 200 psi (pounds per square inch).
Superintendent Robert C. Lee, Assistant Superintendent Mike Otavka and the Santa Clarita Facilities Foundation put up a terrific fight against moving the high pressure natural gas lines from the school site, but Cam and I were determined to make them do so. Ultimately, the Hart District decided to pay to move the two high pressure natural gas lines to a place “in the street in front of the school”, i.e. Golden Valley Road and Robert C. Lee Parkway.
Then we found out that Golden Valley Road was being built over one of the traces of the San Gabriel Fault, which is classified as an active fault. The National Science Foundation funded Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research had a detailed report stating that high pressure natural gas lines should NEVER be put into the trace of an active fault because of the risk of explosion during an earthquake. We also learned that high pressure natural gas lines should never be designed with sharp bends in them, i.e. 90 degree plus angles, because the pressure at the sharp turn creates an even greater risk of explosion.
We also learned that the “pigs” used to test modern gas main lines for leaks cannot make a 90 degree turn, or a turn anywhere near 90 degrees. Thus because of the extreme bends in the high pressure natural gas main lines to accommodate the school site, the gas main line owner’s ability to test for leaks near the school was severely compromised.
We also learned that the soils reports for the entire vicinity of Golden Valley High School shows that the soil is “corrosive soil” which causes pipelines to degrade and develop pinholes holes much faster than in normal soils. Corrosive soils are identified as one of the greatest risks in causing spontaneous explosions of high pressure natural gas lines.
The Hart District paid roughly $1 Million to the gas main lines’ owner for one 24″ and one 30″ high pressure natural gas main line to be built in a new route:
On the east side of Golden Valley High School, the high pressure natural gas main lines now come out of a grassy easement and enter Robert C. Lee Parkway and bend at 90 degrees immediately south of Golden Valley High School’s south driveway. The two huge high pressure natural gas main lines then go south for a short distance, making another 90 degree turn into the San Gabriel Fault trace under Golden Valley Road, where they run underground until they are roughly due north of the transfer station, where they head south to the transfer station, at a point due south of the school’s tennis courts. (Go to Google Maps satellite view and you can follow the route of these two 24″ and 36″ high pressure natural gas lines.)
The new pipelines paid for by the Hart District are supposedly coated with anti-corrosive materials, but the “old high pressure natural gas main lines” to which the new pipes were welded are very old. One end of the “old” gas main lines is about 200′ east of Robert C. Lee Parkway, and the other end of the “old” gas main lines is just south of GVHS’ tennis courts, on the land immediately south of Golden Valley Road. As a result, the places where the “old” gas main lines meet the new gas main lines, near the schools, create the greatest risk of corrosion or earthquake caused explosion.
In designing the school’s site plan, the Hart District pushed the school buildings as far north as possible. However, the Santa Clarita Facilities Foundation sold off what was originally intended to be the “front lawn” of the school to a home builder, which is why you find the potential tinderbox of wooden housing between the school and Golden Valley Road. As we saw in the San Bruno fire, the construction of that housing created “fuel” to make a fire from the exploding high pressure natural gas line even worse, in terms of safety at the school site.
At the time of the GVHS school site approval by the California Department of Education, it appeared there were no California laws or regulations setting a required distance of school sites from high pressure natural gas main lines. We had sent detailed written materials on the high pressure natural gas main line explosion in New Mexico, and on the blast radius, to the Hart District and Cal Department of Education. We also sent them public statements by Federal agency which is supposed to regulate these high pressure natural gas main lines saying that the Federal agency is woefully understaffed, and as a practical matter few if any of these high pressure natural gas main lines throughout the United States are ever inspected by the Federal government nor are their transfer stations, which regulate gas pressure in the line.
That Federal agency’s written policy is that it is up to “local government officials” not to locate critical facilities, like schools, near high pressure natural gas main lines which can spontaneously explode. Clearly, the Hart District’s Board had no interest in following the Federal agency’s advice.
Sadly, that advice was reiterated again this month, in connection with the high pressure natural gas main line explosion in San Bruno. There, the gas main line ran right down a street surrounding by houses on each side. In Santa Clarita, the high pressure natural gas main lines run right through both an old housing development, and the new one created by the Hart District’s Santa Clarita Valley Facilities Foundation, right on Robert C. Lee Parkway and Golden Valley Road.
THE EVEN GREATER RISK CREATED BY HIGH PRESSURE NATURAL GAS MAIN LINE “TRANSFER STATIONS”
Back in 2000, our informant from DTSC told us that “transfer stations”, where high pressure natural gas main lines are regularly pressurized and bled, create an even bigger risk of massive explosion and fire. That high level employee of DTSC who warned us about the presence of such a “transfer station” very close to Golden Valley High School.
She was shocked that the man who was in charge of DTSC’s Safe School Sites Program approved the location of Golden Valley High School because of its proximity to the transfer station, which is a very high risk facility. We can’t say more about what transfer stations do, and we’re not supposed to talk about where they located are because of Homeland Security concerns.
We have been to the transfer station near GVHS at least 3 times. It is not well secured or in a building. While standing just south of Golden Valley Road, south of the school’s tennis courts, we were there when the gas company “tested” the transfer station and the ground shook harder than we felt in the Whittier earthquake. That gives you a sense of the amount of gas main line pressure right from the transfer station in the immediate vicinity of Golden Valley High School.
In order to get the GVHS school site approved so near the “transfer station”, in the face of resistance from DTSC’s scientific staff, the Hart District hired a high powered “expert toxics lawyer/lobbyist” from Paul Hastings in San Francisco, named Peter H. Weiner. Mr. Weiner represents clients such as the owners of the BKK Landfills, and had a direct line of communication to DTSC’s then Director Ed Lowry. In a press release criticizing the DTSC’s approval of the Golden Valley High School site, the San Francisco branch of Public Employees for Social Responsibility attacked DTSC’s approval, saying among other things that Mr. Weiner’s wife/girlfriend was the #2 official at CalEPA and thereby Mr. Lowry’s boss.
The DTSC employee who directly signed off on the GVHS site, despite the huge risks to student safety created by the transfer station, was the controversial head of the DTSC’s Safe School Sites program, Hamid Saebfar. Mr. Saebfar is still employed by DTSC. As recently reported by the L.A. Times and by AP, DTSC also approved the building of the Carson-Gore Elementary School on toxics contaminated soil, and then never followed up to make sure LAUSD actually removed the toxics contaminated soil. Under Mr. Saebfar’s watch, both that school site and the completion of the infamous Belmont High School (now renamed) were approved by DTSC. Mr. Saebfar is now in charge of DTSC’s program concerning nano-carbons.
I will never forget the day, about 9 years ago, when students and faculty were evacuated from the Hart District junior high School on May Way, because they were overcome by natural gas fumes. The natural gas fumes formed a methane cloud from an intentional, major bleed of the high pressure natural gas main lines utilizing the transfer station near GVHS.
GVHS had not been built yet, at the time of the gas bleed from the transfer station, but it had existed at that time, the students and faculty would have been sickened there too.
While The Signal’s reporters were prevented from getting to the school to take photos of the evacuation, one of the junior high students’ parents just walked in and got lots of photos of the evacuation. (That was an event in SCV’s history which has been completely “hushed up” and news stories about it are impossible to find because of The Signal’s limited archives.)
The bottom line is that there is a wildly unsafe high pressure natural gas “transfer station” near Golden Valley High School.
THE CONTINUING RISKS PRESENTED BY THE HIGH PRESSURE NATURAL GAS MAIN LINES AND TRANSFER STATION
In 2000, the Hart District Board members exercised their discretion in deciding that the risk of high pressure natural gas line explosion at the Golden Valley High School site was one they could live with, because there was no state regulation prohibiting the building of a school building so close to this sort of high risk gas main pipelines, let alone the transfer station immediately southwest of the school.
My continuing concern about the two 24″ and 36″ high pressure natural gas lines which surround Golden Valley High School is that if they ever explode and catch on fire up on Robert C. Lee Parkway or on Golden Valley Road, the students and faculty at the school will be trapped at the school site, because the only road from the school’s two driveways travels right on top of the two high pressure natural gas lines.
In the event of such an explosion, an evacuation of the students by faculty and school buses would be impossible. In fact, it might not even be possible to get fire trucks onto the GVHS school site until the high pressure natural gas main lines are turned off, and the gas in them burns off.
At the very least, the Hart District and GVHS’ Principal need to prepare an evacuation plan for the school which would involve moving students and faculty off the school site, on foot, in a direction away from the gas lines and fire. That would necessitate moving the students due west, across the baseball field and down the steep slope to Golden Valley Road. It is not practical to consider evacuating the students northwards, through the north parking lot and onto NTS’ property, because their land next to the parking lot was used for explosive ordnance testing. When Golden Valley High School was being planned, NTS would not allow Hart District’s geologist to walk around on their property unless he signed a release, because of the risk of his stepping on something dangerous.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED SINCE GVHS WAS LOCATED IN THIS UNSAFE LOCATION?
(1) Once the Hart District decided to build Golden Valley High School next to these two high pressure natural gas lines, I decided I would never let my daughter go to that school, and Cam’s children decided that her grandchildren would never attend the school either. We’ve noted that as time has gone on, fewer and fewer “middle class neighborhoods” are included in Golden Valley High School’s attendance area. The high pressure natural gas main lies and the transfer station are not the only serious acute and chronic safety and health risks presented at that school.
(2) After the fracas over the high pressure natural gas main lines at Golden Valley High School, the California Department of Education adopted a regulation that no school site can be within 1500′ of a high pressure natural gas or oil pipeline. We suspect that the state adopted the same “blast radius” as we had calculated from the New Mexico explosion, and then added another 250′ safety factor. Here is the regulation from 5 California Code of Regulations, Section 14010(h):
“§ 14010 h. The site shall not be located near an above-ground water or fuel storage tank or within 1500 feet of the easement of an above ground or underground pipeline that can pose a safety hazard as determined by a risk analysis study, conducted by a competent professional, which may include certification from a local public utility commission.”
See: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/title5regs.asp
However, the regulation does no good in terms of protecting the students and faculty at Golden Valley High School.
(3) West Ranch High School was built with a promise that a very old high pressure pipline near it would be moved at the Hart District’s expense. Cam tells me that never happened as far as she can tell.
(4) I learned that the State of Nevada requires written disclosure to home buyers if their house is within 2 miles of a high pressure main pipeline. Apparently, that state is more afraid of exploding high pressure natural gas lines than California regulators are, even though Nevada does not have the high risk of earthquakes breaking high pressure natural gas pipelines.
(5) At one point in the private debate about the Golden Valley High School site’s safety, Superintendent Robert C. Lee snarled at me something to the effect that “If you think the Golden Valley site is unsafe, you should take a look at what is around Valencia High School where your son goes to school.” I have no idea what he meant, but my son transferred to College of the Canyons for his senior year of high school.
(6) Until the high pressure natural gas main line exploded in the middle of a housing development in San Bruno, California, I had never seen video of a high pressure natural gas line explosion and fire, and of course when I saw it I immediately thought of Golden Valley High School and its students. I have included links to raw news video below. The size of the natural gas-fueled fire exceeded my expectations in terms of flame height, with news outlets reporting that their helicopter pilots saw flames as high as 1000′ (compare the height of the houses to the height of the flames). It was also clear that the wind was blowing the gas-fueled flames. THE PREVAILING WINDS IN SANTA CLARITA WOULD BLOW FLAMES FROM AN EXPLODED HIGH PRESSURE NATURAL GAS MAIN LINE IN THE FAULT TRACE OF GOLDEN VALLEY ROAD TOWARDS THE HIGH SCHOOL AND TOWARDS ITS ONLY DRIVEWAYS ON ROBERT C. LEE PARKWAY.
(7) The online news stories I have seen say that it took the San Bruno Fire Department about 2 hours to get the owner of the high pressure natural gas line to “shut off the gas” which was fueling the flames, and of course during that time the fire spread to a wide area. Yet more than an hour after the gas line was supposedly shut off, according to online news stories, live video coverage on CNN shows streets still burning, probably from gas which is left in the lines between the shut off point and the explosion site. That delay was the same problem with the high pressure natural gas main pipe line explosion in New Mexico 10 years ago. Does anyone in SCV know WHERE the values are to shut off the high pressure natural gas main lines and transfer station near Golden Valley High School? Does anyone in know who to telephone to get it done? Does anyone know what to do if there is an accident at the high pressure natural gas line transfer station?
See raw video of what a high pressure natural gas line fire looks like:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7659573
So now, we have the sad satisfaction of saying “I told you so” to the Hart District and Santa Clarita Facilities Foundation Board members from 2000 and 2001, as well as to Superintendent Robert C. Lee and Assistant Superintendent Mike Otavka.
Thank you for the informative post, Costal Sage.
What again is the diameter of the high pressure natural gas main lines near Golden Valley High School?
Today’s Signal says all are 30″ gas main lines.
Old Hart District and gas pipeline operator documents from 2000 contain inconsistent descriptions:
One line is described as 24″ and at other times 30″.
Another line is described as 30″ and at other times 36″.
The pipeline which exploded in San Bruno was supposedly a 30″ line at the explosion site, and “varying widths” nearby.
In reality, it doesn’t matter. An explosion of even a 24″ high pressure natural gas main line is enough to cause horrific damage.
Wow Coastal Sage just surpassed BGH as longest post ever. Big fan of a warning on them (appppppreciate that you do that BGH!!!) so I don’t start reading (unless I am totally invested) and then realize I have 4 pages to scroll from.
Watch out for the uncovered radioactive trucks we don’t know about running through the SCV!!!!
Brook, do you want to see the documentation on the trucks carrying the Depleted Uranium contaminated soil from Bermite?
I’d be glad to send them to you by email. We got them directly from the CalEPA’s Radiologic Branch, the LA County Heath Department and the DTSC.
The excavation and trucking operation went on for several months during the last year, without DTSC or any other State agency having followed its own regulations concerning pubic notification and input, let alone CEQA. The DTSC staff was mightily embarrassed about being caught red handed, and we hear that the “stealth” radioactively contaminated soil removal operation in Santa Clarita was done without senior officials at DTSC in Sacramento knowledge or approval. That sort of conduct is why DTSC’s former project manager, Norm R, is no longer head of DTSC’s toxics remediation operation at Rocketdyne in Chatsworth/Simi Valley.
But I bet you knew that Brook, because you knew the trucks moving the DU contaminated soil from Santa Clarita were not covered.
@Brook it was in response to your comments after one of my posts that I decided to add the warning. I value everyone’s time and understand that not all are interested in what I have to say. Several people besides CS have posted longer comments than mine but I appreciate your remarks.
Oops my mistake 16 pages to scroll through.
This is comical (yet tragic)… the nucleus of this liberal slanted blog (Little Natie, Tiny Tim, Master Blogger, and 5 Cents) is easily read like a book…. and so effortless to taunt. You’re all so predicable that you’ve become quite boring…
But have a Great “Constitution Day” anyway (not that you would notice that)…
@NFIC anyone who posts on any local blog using a pseudonym or pseudonyms and thinks they can say whatever garbage and/or vile things they choose without being recognized and held accountable is an idiot. It is especially easy when they post reasonable comments on issues under their actual names and then post crap and personal attacks under their pseudonyms. To use and old expression if the shoe fits, wear it.
I could post as Isabela Reina de Castilla y León and my “personality” would still shine through my comments. All of yours do too. I recognize most if not all people posting using pseudonyms on this site. Some are idiots, some are not. I have noticed that since I first began posting on this site, some have even changed negative behavior patterns to positive interactions with respectful discussion of the issues even if we disagree. You have not.
I will also remind you that Jeff said he would not go to jail for anyone if he is subpoenaed so be careful of what you say and who you offend. Me, I’ll just fire back myself. Someone else may choose to take you to court.
Talk about the Pot calling the Kettle black.
What a joke !!!!!!
@ “Jerry” thanks for illustrating my point about idiots. Appreciate your cooperation!
BGH – U are barking up the wrong tree. “The pot calling the kettle black” is an idiom used to accuse a person or thing of being marked with or guilty of the very thing they are pointing out. This may or may not be hypocritical or a contradiction. Or for U, El que tiene rabo de paja, que no se arrime a la candela.
@ “Jerry” just because you can be an idiot in two languages does not make you less of an idiot. On the contrary, I could argue it makes you twice the idiot.
You either cannot read well, or have a problem with comprehension. To make it a little easier for you, let me explain that my comments were about idiots like yourself who post using pseudonyms. I do not hide behind false names, so no pot, black or otherwise. Go back, read my original comments, and see if you are capable of comprehending what is actually written.
I will also add I will not rudely exclude the others from my conversation by speaking in a language they do not all speak. You do not speak Spanish either, but nice try. Since I have no tail made of hay, I do not have to worry about getting near the fire.
In your haste to find something to insult me about you simply make an ass of yourself, which makes me think of two other sayings I will translate for you so that your “friend” does not need to. “La perdiz por el pico se pierde”. If you talk too much you are likely to give yourself away. “Mucho ruido y pocas nueces”. All talk and no balls.
Relax. Knowing the importance of relaxation and knowing how to relax are vital for ensuring your ongoing health and well-being, as well as restoring the passion and joy in your life. Your health is your responsibility. Allowing life’s stressors to impact your health negatively will end up with you feeling under par in everyday activities and could eventually lead to you being a bitch.
It is nice to see that there are no main gas lines that run through the Bermite property where there are things that can go boom.