THE RICH GET RICHER
Beverly Hills, California is known for its wealth, its movie stars, wealthy Iranian refugees and Rodeo Drive. It is also the home of Beverly Hills High School — which sits on a bountiful oil field with estimated reserves of 25 million to 30 million barrels. For leasing a 3/4 acre plot on its high school campus to the Beverly Hills Oil Co., which slant-drills underground and pumps out some 1800 barrels of high-grade oil a day, the Beverly Hills Unified School District is paid $100,000 a month ($1.2 million a year) in oil royalties. The city of Beverly Hills is paid an equal sum. There is only one oil rig on the high school grounds — it’s next to the soccer field — but that rig serves seventeen oil wells. And, according to Chip Gillette of Beverly Hills Oil, “The company plans to drill another thirteen.” Beverly Hills High School has an enrollment of 2537 students and a faculty of…
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