Oil Seeping from Ground in Parent's Back Yard

Self | 03/21/05 | Laurel Barney

[tapatio]

Well, I just drove over there and found the pump. It is in the parking lot behind the SJNB Office Bldg. at 15405 Los Gatos Blvd (about 3 bldgs south of the Rotten Robbie Station.) It looks like it hasn't operated in quite a long time.

Thats great!It's nice to find a little bit of history that is still there.

[ApplegateRanch]

Better have Agents Mulder & Scully check it out. Black slime durn near did in Fox. If you you see any floating in your eyeballs after handling it, its too late.

[expatpat]

It may be from an old buried oil tank.

[ApplegateRanch]

Standard Oil/Standard of California bought the oil rights up en-mass in the entire Bay Area, if not most of northern California, at least a century ago.

Once in a while, a parcel is found to have been missed, but it is rare. After the Korean War, my oldest brother bought a rare 160 Northern California acres parcel that still had primary water, mineral, and timber rights attached to it.

[dc27]

I'd suggest getting the goo tested.

If you get it tested, I wouldn't tell the company doing the testing where it came from. If it is something toxic, the state could make you pay to clean up the property.

[brityank]

Ah, the modern education system. I spent thousands of dollars I don't have, waste years of my life (well, not waste, I love the social aspect), then they give me a piece of paper saying I'm competent (which I'm clearly not!). Then I learn how to do the job when on the job, once I procure one

Now you know why your chosen profession is called a practice.

       ;^)

[TexasTransplant]

>>>Effing simpleton!<<<

I'll see your effing simpleton and raise you an effing scumbag lawyer!

[pbear8]

it is still black in those patches where it had oozed up before

[RoseofTexas]

When you get rich as Jet Clampet, don't forget your buddies here at FR!! :) Black oil, Texas tea...LOL!

[RoseofTexas]

Dang! I guess you can tell it's saturday night when the wine does all the typing...I meant Jed and Black Gold...geezzzz! Hiccup..excuse me! :)

[Dimples]

From a USGS report on Santa Clara Valley petroleum geology:

Preliminary calculations suggest that about 1 billion barrels of oil may have been generated from source rocks within the Monterey Formation in the deepest part of the subsurface sedimentary basin between Los Gatos and Cupertino. Most of this oil was probably lost to biodegradation, oxidation, and leakage to the surface, but some oil may have accumulated in as-yet-undiscovered structural and stratigraphic traps along the complex structural boundary between the Santa Clara Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Although some of these undiscovered accumulations of oil may be of commercial size, future petroleum exploration is unlikely because most of the area is currently devoted to residential, recreational, commercial, and industrial uses.

[tubebender]

Don't be surprised if the staff of the Water Quality Control Board show up and open a file on possible pollution of the ground water. It could be a buried barrel of waste oil as one FReeper suggested and it has rusted through with water displacing the oil. Then again it may be natural seepage. Good Luck...

[Dimples]

You may also find this Cupertino Courier article interesting:

... Stanley said the oil poses no major hazards but did say, "It would be wise to drill [water] well bores carefully, in case any oil moves up [the line] and contaminates water supplies. And if people find traces of oil in their water, it is likely from the oil underground—not man-made pollution."

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

That one looks like it's a quart low, better throw it back.

[festus]

Just don't let the envirowackos/Democrats know. They might declare the rest of your property a national park and forbid you from drilling.

No they'd call the EPA and make them clean up the property and remove the oil spill. The maroons.

[First_Salute]

You may have an indication of a pending earthquake.

[bd476]

Thank you for the ping to a very interesting thread!

[Boot Hill]

"You may have an indication of a pending earthquake."

Interesting thought, there is precedence for what you suggest. And Los Gatos is damn close to the San Andreas fault (about 2 miles south). However, the epicenter for the Loma Prieta earthquake was also located very close to Los Gatos and one might expect sufficient strain for a big one, not to have returned so quickly.

We'll see, I'll be keeping an eye on the USGS website Maps of Recent Earthquake Activity in California-Nevada.

--Boot Hill

[null and void]

Yikes!

[bd476]

Bubbling crude, Texas tea, black gold.