For decades, the West Pico Drill Site in Los Angeles, with an oil derrick disguised as a tower, has been tucked behind a fence pumping oil next to homes, businesses and a preschool. The site has long been plagued by fumes, noise, air pollution and other impacts on the surrounding community.
That could be about to change after the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted on Wednesday, Dec. 13 to approve a motion seeking to close the controversial oil drilling field in the West Pico area that has been operating there for decades.
Council members voted 12-0 to approve a motion that aims to terminate the West Pico Drill Site’s franchise agreement, launch an investigation of outstanding code violations at the site and conduct a review of other pipeline franchise agreements in the city to understand the condition of all pipelines that are operating on an interim basis as of January 2024.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the 5th District and the communities in West Los Angeles surrounding the West Pico Drill Site, said, “I brought this motion forward because 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.”
“We should be using every tool we have available to shut down oil wells in L.A. as quickly as possible — both to protect public health and safety in our neighborhoods, but also as part of our larger climate action,” Yaroslavsky said. She said her motion would allow city officials to launch the process to end fossil fuel extraction at the controversial site, by asking the city’s Office of Petroleum Administration to terminate the pipeline franchise agreement.
The West Pico Drill Site at 9101 W Pico Blvd. sits just 100 feet from residential homes and businesses. It began producing oil in the 1960s. Operated by Pacific Coast Energy Co., the site has nearly 40 active wells.
Residents have been complaining for years about drilling operations near their homes. A recent study at Stanford University discovered a link between living near oil and gas wells and preterm birth risks.
Leo Daube, a spokesman for Yaroslavsky, said the site has been “especially problematic.” In 2021, the City Council adopted a motion seeking a city investigation of the oil field.
Pacific Coast Energy Co., which operates the Pico site, didn’t return requests for comment. Representatives with the Western States Petroleum Association, a trade organization for the oil industry, declined to comment.
“What happened today is a major step in the process, but there are numerous steps ahead,” said Michael Salman, professor emeritus of history at UCLA, and a board member of Neighbors for a Safe Environment, a nonprofit organization devoted to protecting the surrounding community from the impacts of oil production.
Salman said Yaroslavsky’s motion backed by the City Council this week “sets due dates for several city agencies to come back with reports, and one of the reports is specifically to present options for terminating the pipeline franchise agreements” at other drill sites in the city.
Irma Muñoz, the founder of Mujeres de la Tierra, which translates from Spanish as Women of the Earth, launched the Neighbors for a Safe Environment group in 2004 after two of her neighbors who lived near the Inglewood oil field died of cancer. The Inglewood field is about 5 miles away from the Pico Drill Site.
Muñoz welcomed the news about the potential closure of the West Pico and other similar drill sites in Los Angeles.
“Oil fields in the city are not good for anyone,” she said. “They impact the community’s environmental health, and regardless of how many precautions oil companies take they are very devastating to all.”
Ashley Hernandez, a community organizer for the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment, who grew up in Wilmington, one of the most polluted and oil-impacted communities in L.A., said she hopes Los Angeles city officials “act with urgency in making this reality a priority for frontline residents facing the brunt of neighborhood oil drilling. We don’t need delays and need immediate capacity to support communities experiencing environmental injustice in L.A.”
The City News Service contributed to this report.