To Mayor Perotte and Goleta Councilmembers:
I appreciate the fact that the County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) report on the so-called Ellwood Incident of last October 9-11 is being shared with the public and members of the Goleta City Council. It lays out serious, even potentially lethal, lapses in the current systems to alert the public and/or guard against the release in populated areas of a gas so deadly that only 100 parts per million (PPM) of it knocks out the nose's ability to detect the danger and can kill humans at this concentration, according to the report.
Unfortunately, the county report(s) spend too much time congratulating its responding agencies — Fire, APCD, Health Dept., OEM, etc. — for their incident collaboration and gives only passing mention to their multiple failures to promptly notify the residents most affected by the well gas in the neighboring City of Goleta. Indeed, the OEM report (and the city's complaint letter) also clearly demonstrate how casually Venoco takes its responsibilities to share vital information affecting public health with the City.