HomeMy WebLinkAboutComment re Appeal of MND for Hellman Solar PV Electrical System Project, Seal Beach City Council Mtg 2_23_26 - Anna Christensen
February 23, 2026
To: City of Seal Beach, Seal Beach City Council
From: Sierra Club’s Los Cerritos Wetlands Task Force and Puvunga Wetlands Protectors
Re: Appeal of Mitigated Negative Declaration for Hellman Solar PV Electrical System Project before
Seal Beach City Council on 2/23/26.
Position: Support Appellants request for an EIR or preferably Deny Project
Dear Seal Beach City Council Members,
Our organizations continue to maintain the position stated in our February 2025 letter to the Seal Beach
Planning Commission, restated here below. We do agree with the Appellants' contention that a MND is
insufficient to determine the impacts of the proposed project and agree that at the very least a full EIR
should be required. However, we see a real benefit in denying the project entirely and encourage the
City to investigate all means to end Hellman Properties LLC’s oil production activities within the city
limits as the negative impacts to public health and safety and tribal culture outweigh any financial
benefits to the City and its residents. For over 100 years the Hellmans have profited immensely from
the desecration and destruction of tribal culture and nature in Seal Beach, without apologising or
making amends. Clearly, Hellman Properties LLC has no plans to end its oil production operations
which continue to pollute the wetlands and community at large.
Regarding the City of Seal Beach staff report on the Appeal, the statement “that a Native American
monitor shall be allowed on-site during all ground disturbance activities” is both insulting and
insufficient. The project site lies within the Sacred Site of Puvungna as registered with the State of
California’s Native American Heritage Commission. It is also within the village site of Motuucheyngna
where Hellman Properties LLC illegally unearthed over 20 burials during the construction of its Heron
Pointe development. Additionally, prior archaeological projects conducted intermittently over decades
on the Hellman property have unearthed multiple tribal burials and other tribal cultural materials. The
cumulative impact of these losses to tribal members and to the community is incalculable and makes
preservation “in situ” the only respectful choice.
From a tribal perspective the same can be said for determining the significance of the ecosystem,
which, although degraded, serves as a home to multiple species of plants and animals and as a wildlife
corridor through the Los Cerritos Wetlands and neighboring open spaces. The responsibility to preserve
and protect all life is a core value of indigenous peoples in general. Tribal cultural resources are not
limited to human remains and objects produced by tribal ancestors, but also include plant and animal
relatives.Therefore, tribal monitoring should never be limited to the observation of ground disturbing
activities but should always extend to providing input on a project from its inception, throughout any
kind of testing and final construction. Tribal monitors should always be paid for their time and not
merely “allowed” on site. Additionally, tribal monitors should have the authority to
determine the significance of tribal cultural evidence and, if such evidence is found during construction,
to halt a project pending a resolution. Should archaeologists also be employed, tribal monitors should
have the final authority to determine the significance and disposition of tribal cultural artifacts. On a site,
such as this one, where multiple tribal entities have spiritual and cultural interests, multiple tribal
monitors representing the impacted tribal groups should be employed.
Respectfully, Ann Cantrell, Co-chair, LCWTF and Anna Christensen, Executive Director, PLP
Here is our letter of September 29, 2025:
To: City of Seal Beach, Seal Beach Planning Commission
From: Sierra Club’s Los Cerritos Wetlands Task Force and Puvunga Wetlands Protectors
Re: Mitigated Negative Declaration for Hellman Solar PV Electrical System Project
Dear Commissioners and Staff,
Our organizations, in cooperation with other environmental, environmental justice and tribal groups
have actively promoted the protection of the Los Cerritos Wetlands and local coastal lands, waters, and
communities. Additionally we have advocated specifically for the preservation and protection of the
Sacred Site of Puvungna (which includes the Hellman Property) as listed on the Sacred Sites Registry
of the California Native American Heritage Commission. We have consistently opposed commercial,
residential, and industrial projects that threaten coastal ecosystems and public health and safety,
including several in the City of Seal Beach. While we support solar energy in general, we believe that
the siting of solar panels on the Hellman Property should not be approved for the following reasons:
1. The project has no public benefit: The sole purpose of creating energy from the solar
installation is to perpetuate, perhaps even expand, Hellman’s oil and gas operations. There
are currently 46 active oil wells on site as well as multiple storage tanks. Hellman Oil and
Gas Production Facility processes gas from local sites for sale to SoCal Gas. Additionally,
NGLs (such as propane, ethane and butane) are trucked in for blending with crude oil.
Hellman has also proposed to build a new gas plant on their property (Hellman Gas Plant
Project 2018).
2. Applicant’s oil and gas operations put the public at risk: Hellman’s property is adjacent
to the Los Cerritos Wetlands and the Heron Pointe housing, and within half a mile of Island
Village and homes on Landing Hill. Living near active oil operations has been proven to
have significant negative health impacts including cancer, respiratory illnesses, and heart
problems. Proposition 1137 has established 3200 feet Health Protection Zones around
homes and community facilities to prohibit new oil drilling and to better regulate existing
drilling sites.
3. Clearly, Hellman’s daily oil and gas operations (all of which are within 3200 feet of homes)
harm residents and the wetlands ecosystem. While some public agencies have envisioned a
phase out of oil and gas extraction impacting the Los Cerritos Wetlands, we do not find that
Hellman has any intention of ceasing its operation, regardless of negative impacts to the
community. There is no public benefit to encouraging fossil fuel operations near homes,
schools, and fragile coastal ecosystems. The City of Seal Beach must act to encourage the
phase out of oil drilling, on and offshore, in order to protect the community as a whole.
4. The Sacred Site must be protected. The Hellman Property sits on the former village site of
Motuucheyngna, and within the larger community complex of Puvungna, a portion of which
is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Due to conquest and occupation of tribal lands
by Spain, Mexico and the U.S. tribal nations are no longer able to function as fully sovereign
entities. In Seal Beach (formerly Motuucheyngna) ranching, agriculture, oil extraction,
archaeological digs, construction of housing on Landing Hill, have resulted in the destruction
and disinterment of burials and tribal cultural items. In the 1930s it was legal and common
practice for “souvenir hunters” to dig up burials on Landing Hill. Due to the illegal removal of
multiple tribal burials during the construction of the Heron Pointe development, Hellman
Properties agreed that certain areas would be permanently protected and established the
Heron Pointe Trail and a tribal gathering area. Today the annual Ancestor Walk gathers here
to honor and remember relatives who once lived and loved this land and who were driven
from it by settlers with no respect for either the indigenous people or the life that flourished
here.
Preservation of tribal culture depends on the health of the land and water, and at this point
in this place, the only respectful action is to allow the land to heal, not further burden it with
more development. Since 1881 the Hellman enterprise has profited from privatized tribal
lands. Farming, oil and gas extraction, and real estate development have made fortunes for
some while resulting in the erasure of tribal sites and tribal members’ inability to access the
land to practice ceremony and culture.This includes the responsibility to ensure that the
ancestors are at peace and that plant, animal, and bird relatives can continue to live safely
on the land.
At one time the City of Seal Beach made a commitment to protecting tribal culture and even
established an archaeological committee to ensure that future development would not
impact tribal sites. Since then, Heron Pointe, the planting of trees in Gum Grove Park and
the ongoing restoration of the Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands have all harmed known tribal
cultural resources. Because tribal consultation, required by the CEQA and the Coastal Act,
has not been conducted properly with a focus on preservation in situ, the erasure continues.
Both Tongva and Acjachemen tribal representatives must become empowered to ensure
that tribal culture and cultural resources are no longer sacrificed to colonization.
5. Solar panels themselves can have negative consequences for the environment and
for people. Depending on size and distance solar panel operations can interfere with
normal human, wildlife, and avian activity. Rather than consuming additional natural areas,
solar panels belong on existing structures and parking lots. Given that the Hellman property
is located between the Los Cerritos Wetlands, the Los Alamitos Retarding Basin, and the
San Gabriel River, it serves as a wildlife corridor. Even in a degraded state, this former
wetlands and uplands property provides foraging opportunities for multiple species and is
best left as open space. The potential clearly exists for Hellman to enhance the 21/2 acres
and their entire property by protecting the ecosystem instead of their profit margin.
Respectfully, Ann Cantrell, Co-chair, LCWTF and Anna Christensen, Executive Director, PLP