L.A.’s latest move to limit oil drilling in the city

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dorany Pineda, giving you the latest news and developments with help from my colleagues David Zahniser and Dakota Smith.

Los Angeles leaders have taken another step aimed at addressing public health and environmental threats posed by oil extraction in the city.

In a 12-0 vote last week, the Los Angeles City Council called on the city’s petroleum administrator to terminate as soon as possible an expired pipeline franchise agreement at the West Pico oil drill site. If that occurs, the company won’t be able to transport oil from the facility, located on Pico Boulevard just west of Doheny Drive. The motion also directs the petroleum administrator to investigate 20 years of alleged violations at the site and impose appropriate fines.

Although council members stopped short of shuttering the facility that has operated since 1965, some viewed the adopted motion as a means of protecting neighborhoods from oil drilling and moving away from planet-warming fossil fuels.

“I brought this motion forward to highlight that the City Council’s job isn’t done when it comes to protecting our neighborhoods, schools and places of worship from the dangers of oil extraction,” Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the district where the Pico site is located, said during a recent committee meeting. “We must do all we can to protect communities from both the immediate effects of oil extraction in our neighborhoods and the long-term implications of a changing climate.”

The vote comes as the city phases out existing oil and gas wells, a historic move approved last year by the City Council that also bans new oil and gas extraction. The approval aligned with the end of the climate summit in Dubai, where global leaders — for the first time — agreed to transition away from oil, gas and coal.

The ordinance passed last year granted leaders the authority to permanently close drill facilities, “which declared them legally nonconforming under land use code,” said Leo Daube, a spokesperson for Yaroslavsky. “That starts a shutdown process.”

For now, the Pacific Coast Energy Co., which owns and operates the West Pico drill site, can continue to use the pipeline.

The Westside drill site and its pipelines have long been a concern to surrounding neighborhoods, which have complained about noise, foul smells, air pollution and an oil spill in 2021. The hazards and code violations prompted the City Council to call for an investigation of the site that same year.

During a committee meeting, Peter Candy, a land use attorney representing Pacific Coast Energy Co., denied that any oil spills or leaks have occurred from the pipeline in question since the company took ownership of the site more than a decade ago.

Steven Starr, co-founder of the climate activism organization Extinction Rebellion L.A., hailed during public comment the city’s proposal as “essential in what needs to be a cascade of positive climate action on behalf of the L.A. City Council.”

The motion also called on the petroleum administrator to identify other pipelines in the city operating on a temporary basis.

“There isn’t a clear accounting right now of which franchise agreements are expired/operating on an interim basis, and we believe it is an important data piece to have as we consider future policy around oil wells,” said Daube. The information, he added, will help CD5 understand how it might approach other wells.

But some organizations said more should be done to ensure that other communities are included in protections from the dangers of urban oil extraction.

“South L.A. and Wilmington have been consistently left behind when it comes to issues around neighborhood oil drilling in Los Angeles,” which have seen disparate treatment compared with drill sites on the Westside, said Maro Kakoussian of Physicians for Social Responsibility L.A. “This motion would further that trend if these communities are not directly included early on.”

She added: “We hope that this potential pathway of terminating all proprietary pipeline franchise agreements citywide, if deemed feasible, will in fact lead to site closures in communities most impacted by neighborhood oil drilling.”

State of play

VETERAN VICTORY: A federal judge has ruled that veterans can sue the Department of Veterans Affairs for housing they need to access healthcare and other VA benefits. During a recent hearing, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter urged lawyers representing the VA to reach a settlement with plaintiffs who are demanding that federal officials produce 3,700 units of housing within six months, either on the VA’s West L.A. campus or in leased housing nearby.

HOSPITAL HOUSING: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has chosen a developer to renovate the iconic General Hospital building in Boyle Heights and develop its 25-acre campus as a community and wellness center. County officials want to convert the 19-story former hospital into housing, while also developing retail, offices, sports facilities and parks on land currently occupied by a parking lot and other buildings.

LAPD IS SUED ...: A coalition of civil rights groups is suing the Los Angeles Police Department over “high-risk” traffic stops, such as those where officers draw their weapons and order a driver to lie face down in the street. The coalition, whose members include Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and Community Coalition, said such stops are dangerous, illegal and ineffective in fighting crime.

... AND UNION HITS BACK: The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file officers, denounced the lawsuit as a “legal stunt,” saying it would “allow car thieves to get away with stealing more cars and place police officers in further danger” as they investigate car thefts and other crimes.

LAPD BASS CLAIM: Two detectives in the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division filed complaints alleging that shortly after Mayor Karen Bass was elected, Chief Michel Moore requested an inquiry into a USC scholarship she had received, our colleagues Libor Jany and Richard Winton report. Moore denied the allegations.

HOMELESSNESS IN D.C. VS. L.A.: Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., are both grappling with the homeless crisis, but the eastern city looks and feels less saturated with homeless people than here, our colleagues Noah Bierman and David G. Savage report. One reason is that neither D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser nor the federal government face the same legal constraints as Bass and other leaders of western cities.

LAWSUIT DENIED: An L.A. Superior Court judge denied resident Lusine Martikyan’s effort to challenge City Council District 2 candidate Manny Gonez’s ballot designation of “Housing Advocate/Environmentalist” in the March 5, 2024, primary election. Gonez is policy director of TreePeople, an environmental nonprofit. Housing advocate isn’t Gonez’s current profession, Martikyan said in court documents. But in a court declaration, Gonez said he does “significant work as it pertains to housing advocacy” in his job at TreePeople, including advocating the state Legislature for housing measures.

Quick hits

• Where is Inside Safe? Bass’ initiative to move homeless people indoors did not launch any new operations this week. However, outreach teams returned to some of the Inside Safe locations that have repopulated in recent months, including streets in Hollywood and South L.A.

• On the docket for next week: L.A. on the Record will take a much deserved holiday break. We’ll be back with more City Hall info on Jan. 6. Wishing all our readers a happy new year!