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The Mountain View Oil Field is a large, mature, but still-productive oil field in Kern County, California, in the United States, in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin Valley southeast of Bakersfield. It underlies the town of Arvin, as well as some smaller agricultural communities. The field is spread out across a large area, covering just under eight square miles, with wells and storage facilities widely dispersed throughout the area, scattered among working agricultural fields of broccoli and carrots as well as citrus orchards. Discovered in 1933, it has produced over of oil in its lifetime, and although declining in production is one of the few inland California fields in which new oil is still being discovered.〔 239.〕 As of the beginning of 2009, the field had numerous operators, unlike some of the larger, monolithic fields such as the Kern River field to the north, which is entirely owned by Chevron Corporation. Only independent oil companies operate on the Mountain View Field. Of the 175 active wells on the field in 2009, the largest operator was Atlantic Oil Company, with 49 producing wells; the second largest was Sunray Petroleum, with 22. Overall there were 23 separate operators, one of the most of any field in California.〔DOGGR 2009, 110-168〕 ==Environmental setting== Unlike the largest of the Kern County oil fields which occupy the arid hilly region ringing the Central Valley, the Mountain View field is one of several which entirely underlie the flat, richly agricultural valley bottomlands. It is long and relatively narrow, with the productive area of the field being almost fifteen miles (24 km) long from its northwest to southeast extents, and from one to three miles (5 km) across. It consists of discontiguous areas, many of which are small, isolated, and some of which are abandoned.〔DOGGR, 302〕 Land use in the field is mainly agricultural, although the field also underlies the entire town of Arvin, as well as several small unincorporated communities. Oil wells are scattered throughout the region, never densely clustered; some are adjacent to homes in Arvin itself, and many are situated within clearings in the area's abundant orchards and fields of row crops.〔John F. Matthews, Jr. ''Arvin and Vaccaro Areas of Mountain View Oil Field: California Division of Oil and Gas, Summary of Operations''. 1961. Vol. 47 No. 1. 5-6〕 Two state highways pass through the field: California State Route 184, which runs south to north through the town of Lamont, passing through the extreme northwestern portion of the productive region; and Route 223 (Bear Mountain Boulevard), which goes west to east through the town of Arvin and then into the Tehachapi Mountains. Paved roads run along the section lines throughout at one-mile (1.6 km) intervals. Terrain in the vicinity of the oil field is almost table-flat, with elevations ranging from approximately 400 to above sea level throughout the productive region. The land rises with a slight gradient to the south and east, in the direction of the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains. Climate is typical of the southern San Joaquin Valley, and is arid. Temperatures in the summer routinely exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit on cloudless days. Rain falls mainly in the winter months, and averages 5 to 6 inches annually. Freezes occur occasionally during the winter, and the winter months are also subject to frequent dense tule fogs, limiting visibility to near zero. Drainage from the field in generally into the irrigation canal system, but because of the flat surface gradient most rainfall soaks directly into the ground. Air quality in the vicinity of the oil field, and in Kern County in general, is among the worst in the United States. In 2009 Kern County had the worst particulate pollution in the U.S.,〔Report: Kern has the most dangerous pollution in U.S. KGET, Bakersfield, California. April 29, 2009. ()〕 and was second-worst for ozone, after Los Angeles.〔(American Lung Association: Annual State of the Air Report )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mountain View Oil Field」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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