By Geoff Page
The Rag was alerted, by one of our regular contributors, to the appearance of machinery and a crew on the pier Wednesday, September 25. Upon investigation, the equipment was determined to be a drilling rig.
The machine is positioned in the middle of the deck about 150 feet from the gate. The crew apparently cored a hole through the deck in order to lower the auger down to the seabed below. The auger probably consists of a drilling tube that is used to bring up core samples of the rock under water. The soil and rock samples will figure in the future engineering of the proposed pier.
The presence of two pickup trucks and a drilling rig on the pier certainly attests to the soundness of some of the pier. Perhaps some of it could be opened to the public again.
Drilling is often used for environmental phase 2 reports, or to determine how compact soil/sediment/sand is in terms of PSI. Anyone know how far the groundwater goes below the surf? I’d think well past the pier but I’m out of element (Donny!) on that one.
After contacting the company, they were good enough to reply. Tod Clark President of Pacific Drilling Co. says “We are collecting representative samples of the rock underneath the pier for analysis by our client for structural design of the new replacement pier.”
our client for structural design of the new replacement pier.”
Interesting. So money is being spent, who’s the client, and where’s the approval if the client is the city?
Aw, man, and here I was thinking that Ocean Beach would make a great little petroleum emirate!