LA City Council Cmte To Discuss Citywide Phaseout of Oil Drilling

I’m reaching out to inform you that on Tuesday 4/20 at 1:00 pm PST the LA City Council Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will meet to discuss the proposal to pursue a city-wide phase-out of oil drilling in LA neighborhoods. 

After years of advocacy and health concerns from impacted residents and a coalition of environmental justice & healthy organizations with STAND-L.A., Los Angeles City Council is finally taking action to address this health, climate, and urban planning problem. If passed, the motion would propel the City toward a city-wide phase-out of oil and gas drilling by declaring drilling a non-conforming land-use. This would be unprecedented action from a major City to model for the world not only what a just transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy looks like, but also what a compassionate dismantling of existing harmful oil operations could look like. While most recent policy actions on oil and gas address only future operations, the City of LA is preparing to address the wells that are already causing health and climate harm. 

Introduced by Council President Nury Martinez and Councilmember Paul Krekorian, this motion has passed out of the Environment, EJ, and Climate Committee and will potentially be reviewed by two other committees before being voted on by the full Council. Frontline residents are literally holding their breath while LA City Council shuffles this motion through committees until a full vote. Residents, organizers, and members of STAND-LA will deliver public comments on Tuesday and urge the PLUM committee to urgently move forward with this motion with no further delay.