THUMS PRESENTATION
THUMS Islands? Astronaut Islands? Fantasy Islands? Luxury Private Islands? AREA 562? What the heck?
If you drive along the coastline of Long Beach, California, you will notice something not found anywhere else. There are a series of islands that we all wonder. What are these mysterious islands that are scattered right off the Long Beach coast?
The THUMS islands included portions of Pier J in the Port of Long Beach and were constructed from a giant supply of stone from Catalina Island--640 000 tons of it--along with 3. 2 million cubic yards of sand from Long Beach Harbor. The purpose was to explore the vast reserves of the Wilmington Oil Field, which stretches 13 miles long and 3 miles wide, from onshore San Pedro to offshore Seal Beach. Since it was first discovered in 1932, 6,150 wells have been drilled in the oil field, with nearly 1,550 pumps still active.
There are a set of 4 artificial islands that were built in 1965 for oil drilling purposes. The islands were operated by THUMS which was a group of companies that bid for the island contract. THUMS = Texaco Oil, Humble Oil (now Exxon), Union Oil, Mobil Oil & Shell Oil. There were more than 640,000 boulders brought in from Catalina Island to build the rim of these islands.
The Long Beach islands needed to be aesthetically pleasing since they are so close to the shore. So they contracted theme park architect Joseph Linesch to oversee the project. $10 Million dollars was spent on landscaping the islands with waterfalls, palm trees & tall structures to conceal the oil drilling machinery, noise & drilling rigs. At night the structures are lit up with different colors to make them beautiful islands, making everyone wonder, What is going on out there, and how do I get invited? .. .( Ill have that information later) In 1968, the Long Beach islands were named after the first four American astronauts that lost their lives serving their country. Astronauts Grissom, White, Chaffee & Freeman It's estimated the Wilmington reserves originally contained 3 billion barrels of oil, with around 300,000million barrels left in the tank today. In 1940, Long Beach began to sink as a result of so much oil being drained from beneath the city. By the early 1950s, this so-called "subsidence" phenomenon was causing the city's elevation to drop by approximately 2 feet per year. The results were destructive: Streets cracked, pipes warped, and buildings became unsafe. The sinking even caused minor geological tremors. In 1953, Long Beach began injecting water into the oil reservoirs, and the subsidence stopped.
In March, theWeeklyobtained an internal two-page city document produced by LBGO that was meant to only be seen by the city's 11-member Sustainable City Commission, which reports to the mayor's office and advises the City Council. Titled "Hydraulic Fracturing in Long Beach," the memo states that fracking was started on the THUMS islands in the early 1970s and has been practi...
