Earthquake Faults

Mason Hill, a geologist credited with a leading role in the first commercial oil discovery in Alaska, has died of a stroke, it was learned Tuesday. He was 88 and died March 11 in Whittier, where he lived. Hill participated in the discovery of oil at Swanson River on the Kenai Peninsula in 1957 and was an expert on the San Andreas Fault. At the time of the Swanson River discovery, he was chief geologist for what was then the Richfield Oil Co.

Residents in this community of hillside tract homes may soon be building swimming pools over earthquake faults. The City Council voted 3 to 2 last week to allow pools and other recreational structures to be built on top of the San Jose Hills Fault, amending the building code that prohibited building within 100 feet of the fault. Councilmen Charles Richardson and Tom Sykes voted against the change, which will go before the council for a final time next week.

As a survivor of the October '93 Laguna Beach Fire, I must take issue with your editorial ("Patience Will Pay Off in the Long Run," April 3). You state that experts have indicated that the hillsides must be stabilized, and yet in the next sentence you state that further study needs to be made as to whether an ancient landslide even exists. If the fire had not occurred, we homeowners in the Mystic Hills would still be living there without one word forthcoming from the city or geologists about a potential slide.

Residents of the nearly 250 homes that were destroyed by last month's fire got a break from the City Council this week on the geological review required to rebuild. The city will allow groups of property owners within a neighborhood to provide a single common report to determine the geological stability for all of the properties.

There are fault lines, and then there are fault lines. And now that a real earthquake fault has been found under the Belmont Learning Complex, some city school board members may be tempted to pull the plug -- again -- on a project they never liked. That would be a mistake. Instead, they must find a safe way to finish the school, and soon. If not, they could set off new political tremors along the many social and economic fault lines of Los Angeles.

The former state geologist who believes he has detected an earthquake fault zone running alongside the Ventura Freeway, through Thousand Oaks and into Camarillo, said Thursday that further study should be undertaken soon to determine the area's seismic safety. "We have no idea if it's active or inactive, but if it's active it could bring about slight modifications in structural designs," geologist James Slosson said. "We're not saying the world is coming to an end.

Representatives of about a dozen San Fernando Valley and hillside homeowners associations Saturday voiced concerns over a variety of Valley issues--from billboards to Burbank Airport--to Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy at a meeting in Sherman Oaks. "We want to tell you our concerns, ask your help," Richard Close, president of Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., told McCarthy during the 45-minute meeting at Close's house. Tom Patterson, president of North Hollywood Homeowners Assn.

"Geologists Find No Fault With Landfills" (Oct. 19) offers proof to the old adage that you can learn something new every day. Not many of us could have ever guessed that an "active" earthquake fault is one that has experienced some "shaking" within the last 11,000 years. County sanitation district scientists report that their data show there are no active faults below Toland Canyon, but Gordon Kimball (a scientist himself) is skeptical, claiming those geologists "say just what the district wants them to say."

In the Sept. 26 story on my campaign for reelection to the Ventura City Council, it was reported that I opposed the university at Taylor Ranch on environmental grounds. This is incorrect. I did not oppose the Taylor Ranch as the future university site; on the contrary, I wanted it openly evaluated so all interested parties could be certain of having the best possible university site. I argued that hard and fast positions should be withheld until required studies revealed the feasibility of the site for a campus and the attendant benefits and impacts.