CFROG is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year! As part of our ongoing celebration, we’ll be sharing stories from 10 Wins across 10 Years! Stay tuned for more history from the long fight against fossil fuels in Ventura County.
As we were growing from a group of concerned neighbors to a fully-fledged fossil fuel watchdog organization, one of the first projects CFROG worked on was a health assessment of leaking oil and gas wells in Upper Ojai. Partnering with Earthworks and Clean Water Action, CFROG members helped to research whether oil and gas activity in the area was causing air contamination and adverse health effects to the surrounding community. We helped to advocate to the Ventura County Fire Department for civic research access to wells located on the department’s Station 20 property, connected with property owners with wells on their sites, and brought community members together to identify concerns, survey for experienced, health symptoms, and share findings.
The study included using an infrared FLIR camera, used to detect substances in the air, to identify methane and other harmful pollutant leaks at the decades-old wells. While this is a more common practice now, this civic research effort was among the first efforts to monitor methane leaks at wellheads in California. After leaks were identified, a Summa canister was used to collect a sample of the leak and then identify the pollutants. The study found major pollutants in all air samples taken at leaking wells: Methane, Dichlorodifluoromethane, Trichlorofluoromethane, Isoprene, and other harmful chemicals at some wells. These are linked to various health risks, including: cancer, kidney and reproductive system damage, nervous system problems, headaches, nosebleeds, nausea, and negative cognitive impacts.
This research also confirmed that the health-harming pollution was coming from the drilled wells, and not from natural seeps — correcting a longstanding misbelief and confirming the unequivocal negative impact oil drilling has near communities.
At the time, there was little research or attention paid to the long-term impact of this pollution on communities living near oil wells. Fast-forward to 2020, Ventura County has passed the first-ever significant setback between oil wells and homes and schools — setting the stage for the state to do the same a few years later! But there is more to that story, and we’ll be sure to share in upcoming installments of 10 Wins in 10 Years.