After more than a decade of navigating approvals from over a dozen state and federal agencies, officials Thursday celebrated the beginning of work to return 156 acres of coastal land to the public.
The land near Trader Joe’s just north of Second Street, where it meets Studebaker Road, is owned by Synergy Gas & Oil and has been used for decades as an active oil drilling site that straddles the Long Beach-Seal Beach line.
The Long Beach company has already capped about half of the 39 oil rigs that operate there as it plans to grade and clean the land by the end of this year or early 2026. It will then move operations to a much smaller 7-acre parcel across the street on Pacific Coast Highway known as the “pumpkin patch” site because it has hosted seasonal pumpkin farms.
The Coastal Commission approved the project in March.
Plans were almost derailed last summer in the wake of a state law signed in 2022 that bans drilling of new oil wells near homes and schools.
Synergy CEO John McKeown said the company initially planned to install 120 rigs on the new parcel to help pay for the restoration work, but reduced that number to about 30, and they will be lucky to get even that. The company and city pushed hard to get around the new law by arguing the project was in the works well before the state legislation was signed, and touting the environmental benefits of restoring such a massive swath of sensitive land.
McKeown noted that without the revenue from oil production on the new site, the company would have no way of paying for or borrowing the funds needed for the restoration work. Aside from environmental credits that will reduce some costs, the project is privately funded.
“This does not happen every day,” Mayor Rex Richardson said at the groundbreaking ceremony at Synergy Oil & Gas, 6433 E. Second St. “This is the first time we’ve gained this much open space in our city since El Dorado Park” opened in the 1960s.
It isn’t yet clear what the new open space will look like, but Councilmember Kristina Duggan, who is also chair of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority and helped push the project through, said a group spent the morning on a walking tour of the 6-acre Zedler Marsh nearby, where the public can learn about the wetlands, volunteer, study the ecosystem and walk the area.
“This is the vision that we have for this 156 acres,” Duggan said, crediting McKeown and Synergy with having the tenacity to see it through. “This is a big day. … I am very proud of the work that’s been done here.”