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Law, Jan (audio interview #1 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Law's first interview was set up by Darrell Neighbors and conducted in Law's office which was in a building located on the "Bixby A Lease," an active oil producing area, in Long Beach. John Ahouse, head of Special Collections at CSULB library accompanied 10/4/1983
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- 2021-01-07
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- SUBJECT BIO - Jan Law was a petroleum engineer who demonstrated that oil production in Long Beach harbor caused subsidence there. While other geologists and engineers hypothesized about what was causing the land under the city to sink, Law conducted experiments that demonstrated in which underground, oil bearing strata the sinking was occurring. In this series of four interviews, Law describes his role in both the scientific and public relations struggle to stop subsidence. He describes and evaluates many studies, including some that he wrote himself, of the causes, extent and results of the sinking. He collected many of them, along with photographs and other materials, and has donated them to the CSULB library. He predicts that those who have to deal with the continuing problems of subsidence will come to the library to consult his collection. In the interview, he also discusses other areas where subsidence was suspected to be a problem and other clients he worked for as a consulting petroleum engineer. At the end of each interview session, the interviewer collected the materials Law discussed and took them back to CSULB library. An inventory of those materials, prepared by CSULB librarian Wendy Culotta, is also <a href="http://www.csulb.edu/projects/voaha/docs/JANLAW.pdf">available on this web site</a>. The interviews were conducted as part of a project to study the impact of the discovery of oil on the development of Long Beach. TOPICS - subsidence Law's publications and his evaluation of other subsidence studies; collar count; Wilmington earthquake; litigation; and Long Beach Chamber of Commerce;Law's family family background, his mother and his education; University Club; petroleum engineering; Robert Garrison; Joseph Ball; Paul Snedden; and Baldwin Hill Reservoir failure;
- *** File: subjlaw1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:02)... Brief introduction Law frequently ate breakfast at Sis Ashton's restaurant near Signal Hill. Sis's daughter, Ruth Ashton Taylor, became a TV news reporter in Los Angeles. The restaurant was a place to play gin rummy more than an eating establishment. Men met there regularly and spent many hours playing cards. Law did not participate in the card games. (2:02-9:09)... Law published "A Statistical Approach to the Interstitial Heterogeneity of Sand Reservoirs," which became a widely referenced study regarding the porosity and permeability of oil reservoirs. In 1948-49, while working for the Stanford Research Institute, he published "Contributions on Well Damage, Electric Log Study, and a Material Balance." In 1950, he was retained by the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners to conduct collar count studies. His findings were published in a paper entitled, "Interrelations Between Earth Movements, Long Beach Harbor Area." This study provided conclusive evidence that the tar, ranger, and upper terminal areas were unstable zones and their collapse caused subsidence. (9:09-13:56)... Short of his findings on subsidence, another important study was the "Report on the Test on Oil Well Cores," Long Beach Harbor Department, prepared by Converse Engineering. Converse was the head of the Soil Mechanics Department at Cal Tech. Converse addressed the issue of whether or not subsidence would begin again once commercial injection in Long Beach ceased. Law was hesitant to provide his opinion regarding these findings because he is not well versed in soil mechanics. (13:56-22:45)... By 1959, studies of subsidence revolved around the issue of whether commercial injection was making any difference or if subsidence was going to change on its own. Elevation measurements studied over the years showed that the curve of subsidence remained constant even though the rate of subsidence increased as the center of the bowl was approached. Law believes that assessing subsidence within this type of measurement system did not show a cause and a effect relationship between injection and subsidence, but merely showed changes based on time and distance. As a result, the measurements showed that there were only two feet of subsidence left and that water injection was an exercise in futility. When Law discussed his findings with members of the Chamber of Commerce, they were not pleased. (22:45-27:04)... Norman Sampson, a consultant and oil man, helped develop the mathematical techniques Law used to conduct his subsidence measurements. Law believes that both his study and Converse's study were important contributions to understanding subsidence. Law shared his study with Charles Richter, who was interested in the Wilmington earthquake. Even though the earthquake was barely measurable at Cal Tech, it destroyed 300 oil wells and was the most expensive earthquake in United States history up to that time. Richter suggested that Law take his study to the Annals of the American Society of Civil Engineering. As did most engineers, Law considered civil engineering the least intellectual and significant in the engineering disciplines. Richter told Law that any study conducted without cause and effect was "trash." (27:04-30:22)... Law's paper, "Notes on the Mechanics of Compaction," discusses the early stages of development of the Signal Hill and Wilmington oil fields. This study reviews the fault patterns in the two oil fields and shows that Wilmington is more susceptible to subsidence than Signal Hill. In 1964, Law was retained by Chevron as a consultant to provide testimony in a lawsuit filed against Chevron by the City of Los Angeles. This case involved Chevron's production of oil in Inglewood; the city argued that Chevron's oil production caused the failure of the Baldwin Hills reservoir. End of tape. Tape ends as Law is discussing this case. *** File: subjlaw2.mp3 (0:00-2:08)... Tape begins with Law briefly continuing his discussion of the Chevron lawsuit. Law recognizes that it is a very immodest statement, but he says that his studies on the anatomy of subsidence are the only ones that provide a complete chronological background regarding the issue. While other writers may not refer to their studies as "tedious," he was not afraid to refer to his work as such. (3:28-6:36)... He was born in Seattle, Washington on January 25, 1908. His parents were both from Texas, where his father worked in civil service for the City of Galveston and tried to pursue a political career. When the family moved to Seattle, his father became the chief clerk for the City Treasury. Immediately after his mother's father died and left her $20,000, she divorced his father and she and Law moved to San Francisco. (6:36-12:35)... His mother had the kind of intense feeling for motherhood that is typically associated with Jewish mothers. She pursued an aggressive strategy of raising his intellect. When she married her second husband, they moved to southern California and settled in a poor area of South Pasadena so he could attend South Pasadena High School. He was named after Jan Ignaz Paderewski, a famous pianist admired by his mother. Law was required to take piano lessons for 7 years, which he despised, but remained an obedient student. His mother was a member of the League of Women Voters and she and Law conversed about political matters. He describes himself as a "mother's boy." One of the reasons he chose a career in engineering was that he knew it was an area his mother knew nothing about and that she would have no control over his professional career. Before graduating from high school, his mother took him on an extended European vacation . (12:35-17:25)... In high school he was day dreamer, but did well in his conversational courses. He took an interest in mathematics, physics and chemistry. He decided to attend UC Berkeley because the tuition was only $75 and he was told it was one of the best colleges in the country. His grade point average in college was poor and he graduated with a "gentlemen's C." The curriculum was very challenging and he did well in the subjects he was most interested in, but lacked perseverance in those subjects that did not interest him. He graduated in 1933 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering. He went to work for Union Oil in 1933 under an NRA program. (17:25-19:41)... In 1935, he left the Kettleman Hills area and moved to Dominguez Hills, where he continued to work for Union Oil as a petroleum engineer along the Newport-Inglewood fault. His supervisor was promoted to head Union Oil in Texas and Louisiana and asked Law to join him there. Law committed "corporate suicide" when he declined the offer and his career at Union Oil ended. He then found work as an apprentice to a consultant in the Los Angeles area and learned the trade of appraiser. (19:41-22:39)... Law describes looking at several photographs. One is a photo of him and his wife as the paddle tennis champions at the Alamitos Bay Peninsula in 1952-53. He describes himself as indolent, even though he enjoyed playing tennis and swimming. Another photograph shows his daughter. Law also describes a photograph of Joe Ball, an attorney he worked with for 6 years as an expert witness. Law and his wife own an acre of land above Huntington Harbor near the Meadowlark Airport where they live a rural life. (22:39-24:12)... As an apprentice to petroleum consultants, most of his work was generated through social contacts at the University Club. Through people at this club, he learned the trade of property appraisal. He was a ghostwriter for the consultants and was paid between $1.75 and $2.25 an hour for his work. He considered himself a journeyman craftsmen, traveling from master to master learning the trade and working for a pittance. (24:12-28:07)... He taught classes as a lecturer at USC for 4 years. The department chairman there told him about a position with Stanford Research Institute. SRI had received $300,000 from clients such as Pacific Gas and Electric, Edison and the US Navy to study subsidence in Long Beach; that was a huge sum of money at the time. In 1955 he went to work for Robert H. Garrison, the manager of several estates that included oil producing properties. When Garrison retired in 1971, he gave his business to Law. His role and Garrison's was similar to an undertaker and a priest because most of their money was earned when clients died rather than through their annual stipend. Paul Snedden came to work for the company in 1938. End of tape
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