[thackney]

There are 601 active producing wells in the Long Beach field near Los Angeles.

Although there are many other older wells capped, there is plenty of production continuing to drain this field.

http://www.conservation.ca.gov/dog/maps/Pages/goto_welllocation.aspx
Download the MS Excel file for District 1. The well database can be sorted by status of well, county, township, field, etc.

[Ron C.]

Well, that's an interesting database - but far from accurate, it appears. Sorting the data for district #1 shows that the only active wells are in Torrance, Whittier, and Wilmington - and I know that to be wrong. Don't know where you found the 601 producing wells in Long Beach, but I can sure see a lot of them, and in some places there are drilling rigs actively drilling away.

You can see one well being drilled at 33.812000000 -118.185600000 - and just north of that location, you can see one (probably) active pump.

Just immediately west of that location, you can see other pumps, likely active, (white pickup truck with open door beside one) - and a block further west are two more active pumps, with associated storage tanks.

Half a block to the east and south of the one being drilled is another probably active pump.

The question regarding why old capped wells in Long Beach, known to be full again, could not be opened and pumped again by the owner of the well, still remains an unanswered question - the likely impediment being federal and state government standing in the way.