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LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO PURSUE A PHASE-OUT OF OIL DRILLING CITY-WIDE TO PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH

12/1/2020

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Oil drilling in Wilmington
Oil drilling in Wilmington, CA


Environment Committee Members Vote to Direct the City Attorney to Draft an Ordinance Declaring Oil and Gas Drilling a Non-Conforming Land Use Throughout Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — Today, the Los Angeles City Council’s Environment, Climate Change, and Environmental Justice Committee voted unanimously to pass a motion directing the City Attorney to draft an ordinance declaring oil and gas extraction sites non-conforming land uses. The motion, which was introduced by Council President Nury Martinez in her last meeting as the Committee’s Chair, also advises the City Planning Department to report back on the necessary budget and staff requirements to address oil wells in residential neighborhoods, including hiring an expert to complete an amortization study.

The Committee acted on the conclusions of a recent City Attorney report confirming the City’s legal authority to take this action. At a meeting of the same committee two weeks ago, the City Attorney’s office indicated their willingness to defend such an ordinance against legal challenges from the oil industry or oil companies. The motion was seconded by Councilmembers Paul Krekoran and Paul Koretz, who signaled the Committee’s acknowledgment that oil and gas extraction is an incompatible land use in the City of Los Angeles. 

The unanimous vote came after years of community organizing and advocacy from residents impacted by oil drilling and environmental justice advocates with the STAND-L.A. coalition, urging the City to protect public health by phasing out neighborhood oil drilling. Councilmembers also echoed advocates’ calls for the City to help create a just transition plan supporting fossil fuel workers in family-supporting jobs in other industries as oil wells are phased out. 

The motion approved by the Committee today must now be approved by a full City Council vote. 

In response to the Committee’s vote, the STAND-L.A. coalition members released the following statements:

“Today’s win is indicative of the hard work & organizing that environmental justice groups have put into this fight for the last four years. As Councilchair Nury Martinez acknowledged during today’s meeting, this has been a long and slow process, but today’s motion confirmed that it has not all been for nothing. This is a win for frontline communities, public health, and environmental justice. We thank Nury Martinez for this monumental final action as committee chair and look forward to working with the next chair in 2021 to realize this motion.” - Hugo Garcia, Esperanza Community Housing Coalition

“Black Women for Wellness commends Councilwoman Nury Martinez for her courageous work with leading the Environmental Climate Change and Environmental Justice committee to this unanimous decision on setting back oil drilling from our homes, community and children. Public health and racial justice are intimately intertwined with environmental justice and this step forward acknowledges years of community organizing to bring attention to the impacts of oil drilling on our health. South Los Angeles will breathe a bit easier but we know our work is not done. As this goes before the entire Los Angeles City Council, we will work to encourage and embolden every city council member to STAND with us, to put community over oil corporation dollars, to value health, seek just transitions and lead with courage toward an environment that sustains our future on this planet” - Robert Akil Bell, Grants Manager, Black Women for Wellness
“In the midst of a global pandemic, the action taken by Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Justice Committee to pursue a plan to phase out oil drilling in Los Angeles is more timely than ever. The cumulative threat to public health has been made abundantly clear by the devastating and disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 to communities exposed to high levels of pollution, predominantly BIPOC, working-class families. We applaud the committee’s decision to protect constituents on the frontlines of this crisis and pave the way towards a sustainable clean energy economy that benefits workers and communities.” - Gloria Medina, Interim Executive Director, SCOPE

“The Energy, Climate Change and Environmental Justice committee showed real leadership today in acknowledging that it is time to transition away from oil extraction in Los Angeles. We want to thank Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Paul Krekorian, and Paul Koretz for advancing this motion and dispelling the misconceptions perpetuated by the oil industry about the potential economic and legal implications of declaring oil drilling a non-conforming land use. Today the long-ignored public health concerns of residents were heard: no more drilling where we are living. As a coalition that has worked on this for many years, we hope that the rest of the City Council will show the bold and courageous leadership we heard in the Committee meeting today.” - Martha Dina Argüello, Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility—Los Angeles 

“Today, Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Paul Krekorian, and Paul Koretz took an important step toward ending the era of toxic fossil fuel extraction in our neighborhoods. History now has its eyes on the City Council. And so do all Angelinos who want their children to grow up in a healthy and safe environment.” - Richard Parks, President of Redeemer Community Partnership

"Wilmington and other frontline communities have waited so long for the City of LA to listen to our concerns and prioritize our health. We appreciate the strong unanimous vote by the committee to pass this motion and are grateful for all the work and organizing efforts that environmental justice organizations have done for the past 5 years. We look forward to days without toxic oil drilling next to our homes, schools, and community facilities. Days with revitalized lands where our families, children, neighbors, and workers can live and work without having to sacrifice their health. Today was a big win for environmental justice communities." - Wendy Miranda, Wilmington community member and intern for Communities for A Better Environment

“Today’s unanimous vote was a major breakthrough that demonstrates the power of community organizing and persistence.  We are proud supporters of STAND LA and the grassroots community groups who have been fighting to protect their neighborhoods from the harmful impacts of continued oil drilling for years.  This is one of the key environmental justice issues facing Los Angeles, and we celebrate the leadership shown today by Council President Nury Martinez, Councilman Paul Koretz and Councilman Paul Krekorian.  Thank you for standing with those who are most vulnerable and putting us on the path to a just and equitable transition to renewable energy, clean air and healthy communities.”  - Shane Murphy Goldsmith, President & CEO, Liberty Hill Foundation




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Public Hearing on Sept. 20, 2016 will determine if FMOG can install gas flare and expand drilling in South L.A.

9/2/2016

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On Tuesday, September 20 at 4:30 pm, we are standing up against the installation of a gas flare in South Los Angeles. In June, the Zoning Administrator denied a proposal by Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas (FMOG) to install a flare and thereby expand drilling operations in our neighborhoods. But the oil industry isn't done fighting - they have appealed the decision and aim to bring a flare into our community regardless. 
Help us stop the flare! Join us at the public hearing or submit a letter using our letter template to the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission! 
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L.A. VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY WANT TO END NEIGHBORHOOD DRILLING

3/22/2016

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New Poll Shows Widespread Support for A Citywide Prohibition on Oil Extraction within 1500 Ft of Homes, Schools, and Hospitals

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Los Angeles, CA – Today, Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling (STAND-LA) released a new poll that shows that Angelenos overwhelming support a policy that would end oil extraction within 1500 feet of homes, schools and hospitals. Of the over 1200 likely voters that were surveyed, 72% said they would support a 1,500 foot health and safety buffer around all active oil extraction operations.
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The poll, which was conducted by the polling firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, asked respondents, “does [a] proposal to limit oil extraction in the City of Los Angeles to areas at least 1500 feet away from homes, schools, and hospitals sound like something you would support or oppose?”
 
Across all divisions of race, age, gender, income, or education level, Angelenos agree that ending oil drilling in neighborhoods is a common-sense solution. The poll had strongest support among people of color (76%) and low-income voters (81%), the two communities who are disproportionally impacted by neighborhood drilling.

In Los Angeles, home to the country’s largest urban oil field, over 580,000 Angelenos live within five blocks of an active oil or gas well. In some cases, oil and gas wells are located just 30 feet from occupied homes. Over 91% of people who live within a quarter mile of an active oil or gas wells are people of color.
 
“I continue to be amazed at how oil and gas operations receive more consideration and protection from our elected officials than the residents who live around them,” said Pastor Kelvin Sauls of the Holman United Methodist Church, located near the Murphy drill site in West Adams. “Neighborhood drilling remains a contradiction to the vision that city officials proclaim for all Angelenos—regardless of the color or their skin or the size of their income.”
 
When asked to explain why they support such a policy in their own words, 79% of respondents said that it was necessary to protect the health or safety of those living near urban oil sites.  Community groups that have been living with drilling in their neighborhoods were not surprised by the overwhelming support for a protective buffer.
 
“The widespread popularity of this policy proposal supports what we have been saying—that oil extraction should not be happening in anyone’s backyard,” said Sandy Navarro of People Not Pozos. “We know that the fumes released during oil and gas extraction cause headaches, upper respiratory illness, nausea, nosebleeds and a possible increase in cancer risk. There is absolutely no reason why these sites should be allowed to operate in densely populated residential neighborhoods.”
 
The recent Porter Ranch disaster was also top-of-mind with respondents. Eighty-two percent of people said they were somewhat or very concerned that the chemicals being leaked from oil and gas wells all over the city are similar, if not more dangerous, than the gas that was flooding out of the ruptured well in Porter Ranch.
 
 “Angelenos are living atop a very old network of oil and gas pipelines, through which oil companies have regularly pumped highly corrosive acids and chemicals for decades,” said Niki Wong, a community organizer with Redeemer Community Partnership. “Those of us who live near one of these oil and gas operations are just one accident away from another disaster. We can’t wait around to become the next Porter Ranch.”

Curt Below, Senior Vice President at FM3, emphasized just how strong these results are. “It’s very rare to see such strong public support around this kind of policy, especially across demographic and ideological lines. Every subset of Angelenos that we tested showed majority support for a 1500 ft. health and safety buffer, even after presented with a list of potential downsides to the the proposal.”

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STAND Calls For Criminal Investigation After Oil Company Re-Opens Wells Next To Elementary School

3/9/2016

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Community Outraged After Oil Company Skirts Law to 
Avoid Costly Cleanup

LOS ANGELES— Today, STAND-L.A. is calling on City Attorney Mike Feuer to open a criminal investigation of Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas after the company re-opened more than a dozen idle oil wells across the street from an elementary school in South LA. Community members are outraged at what they say was a calculated maneuver to side-step the law and avoid the costs of permanently plugging the wells. 
 
The Los Angeles Times reports local residents had urged the Los Angeles Fire Department to demand the company either restart or close the idle wells, hoping to leverage a section of city code that would force the wells’ closure in the interest of community health and safety. Instead, Freeport reactivated the idle wells, restoring the flow of natural gas just across the street from the Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Studies, named after environmental leaders Rachel Carson and Al Gore. 
 
STAND-L.A., a coalition of community groups dedicated to protecting public health from neighborhood drilling, wants immediate action to be taken against the company for converting water injection wells into gas producing wells without obtaining necessary city approval. The group is calling on the City Attorney to investigate whether the company intentionally chose to circumvent the law and put the health of Angelenos at risk in order to avoid the costs of cleanup.
 
This would not be the first time Freeport-McMoRan prioritized company interests over the lives of local community members, often ignoring the law without any accountability.  “The City Attorney should immediately open a criminal investigation into whether FMOG failed to obtain the required permits," argued Richard Parks, President of the non-profit Redeemer Community Partnership. "Furthermore, the Los Angeles Fire Department should move quickly to protect taxpayers by enforcing city code that requires hundreds of idle wells to be either activated or shut down. For too long the city’s elected officials have supported oil interests over the public interest, trading public health and safety for corporate profits. We need our city leaders to move quickly to protect its residents, first and foremost.”
 
Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas faces growing debt amidst falling oil prices and could be stalling to avoid costs of plugging the wells. If the company waits for bankruptcy, the burden would fall on on local taxpayers to pay for the cleanup, similar to what could happen at the oil site located at Beverly Hills High School. Veneco, the company leasing the well from the Beverly Hills School District, may go bankrupt before it can fulfill a condition of its lease requiring the site be cleaned by March 2017. Should Veneco file for bankruptcy before that time, the school district would be left responsible for all costs associated with paying for the cleanup. Freeport-McMoRan could be taking a similar tack with its Washington Boulevard site, hoping to avoid paying up to $500,000 to permanently close each well.
 
“Clearly, the City of Los Angeles has little to no idea what is going on with idle oil and gas wells within its jurisdiction," continued Richard Parks. "Across Los Angeles, oil companies have failed to shut down oil wells that have been idle for decades. We call on the City to join with the community and take action to have them abandoned. At a time when analysts are questioning whether Freeport-McMoRan can avoid bankruptcy, the City's lapse of oversight potentially places taxpayers at financial risk of a costly cleanup.”
 
Beyond the legal implications of their actions, Freeport-McMoRan put the health and safety of local community members at risk when it chose to reactivate the wells located next to an elementary school. When the Los Angeles Unified School District initially planned to open the school, the company previously operating the site, Plains Exploration & Production, chose to leave the wells idle, saying that the close proximity to the school would make it too difficult to operate the wells while complying with air quality regulations set by the SCAQMD. Freeport-McMoRan knowingly placed the health of children and nearby residents at risk by re-opening its wells and refusing to responsibly close and cleanup the site after being idle for more than five years.
 
“Exposure to hazardous gas and air pollutants from these oil wells put families – children especially – at risk for not just short term health impacts such as nosebleeds and headaches, but long-term issues that result from cumulative exposure, such as asthma, heart disease, respiratory illness and cancer." said Martha Dina Arguello of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a member of STAND-LA. "Oil wells don’t belong in anyone’s backyard, and how ironic that we see this happening across the street from a school named after two important environmentalists in our recent history. This is yet another example of Freeport-McMoRan, blatantly disregarding the health and safety of Angelenos.” 
 
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STAND-L.A. Justice (“STAND-L.A.”) is an environmental coalition of community groups that seek to end neighborhood drilling to protect the health and safety of Angelenos on the front lines of urban oil extraction.
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Press Statement on Los Angeles City Council motion to hire Petroleum Administrator

2/16/2016

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Los Angeles, CA--The Los Angeles City Council moved yesterday to fill the City’s vacant Petroleum Administrator position with a full-time employee. The motion offered a glimpse into the City’s deficiencies in regulating oil and gas production. Weak oversight has put the health of hundreds of thousands of Angelenos in danger by failing to provide the necessary protections from the toxic pollutants produced by neighborhood drilling operations.
 
The City’s move to fill this position indicates that they have failed to grasp the systemic problems caused by oil and gas extraction in Los Angeles. The motion offers too little, too late, leaving communities fearful that neighborhood drilling will continue to put the health of their families at risk.
 
In response to the motion, STAND-LA, a coalition of community groups dedicated to protecting public health from neighborhood oil drilling, released the following statement:
 
"The health impacts and safety threats to residents require a sweeping overhaul of our regulatory system, that has protecting residents’ welfare at its foundation. The City continues to fail to understand the gravity of the regulatory deficiencies, and filling a job position with vague responsibilities without a comprehensive process amounts to another symbolic band aid that seeks to maintain antiquated system that does not protect Angelenos. We cannot allow a new Petroleum Administrator to  double-down on the City’s broken regulatory framework for neighborhood oil and gas extraction. If the City is going to fill the position, it should be with someone whose training and experience is rooted in protecting public health and safety.”
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Media Statement On New Porter Ranch Lawsuit Filed by SCAQMD

1/27/2016

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 SQAQMD SUES SOCALGAS FOR NEGLIGENCE WHILE FAILING TO ACKNOWLEDGE ITS OWN NEGLIGENCE IN PROTECTING ANGELENO FAMILIES FROM DRILLING EMISSIONS  

Los Angeles, CA--Today, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) sued Southern California Gas Co., accusing the company of negligence in the massive Porter Ranch gas leak which has forced thousands to leave their homes and released 87,000 metric tons of methane. The lawsuit alleges that SoCal Gas violated air quality regulations and faults the company for their irresponsibly slow response to such a grave public health threat.

In response to SCAQMD’s suit, STAND-L.A., a coalition of community groups dedicated to protecting public health from neighborhood oil drilling, released the following statement:

“While STAND-L.A. strongly supports efforts to hold SoCal Gas Co. accountable for jeopardizing the health of Porter Ranch residents, it is surprising to hear allegations of negligence come from SCAQMD—an organization that has itself been neglecting the health of our communities for years. 

Residents across LA, have struggled with the daily consequences of oil drilling in their neighborhoods for generations. These communities, often low-income and of color, have reported the same symptoms as Porter Ranch—nose bleeds, headaches, asthma and other respiratory illness—but have received inadequate attention from the SCAQMD regulators who are responsible for protecting their health.  

In one case, the community surrounding the AllenCo drill site in South L.A. had to become their own regulators, mounting a public education campaign to arm and inform their community against the toxic emissions next door. It was only after they waited three years, staged numerous protests, and filed over 250 complaints that SCAQMD inspectors finally stepped in to take air samples. 
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The AQMD has also refused to require well operators to provide local notification before they pump tens of thousands of gallons of toxic acid under residents' homes. When families recently asked for 72-hour notice and same day certainty about when these acid jobs would take place so they could move their children out of harm's way, the SCAQMD board instead exempted some acid jobs from any notification and provided just 48-hour online notice with a week of uncertainty for others.

As a regulatory agency charged with safeguarding the health and safety of our communities, the SCAQMD’s double standard is an unacceptable and irresponsible. Their latest actions are proof of the environmental injustice of neighborhood drilling in Los Angeles.”
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Oil Rig Goes Up In South LA Residential Neighborhood

11/18/2015

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Residents Hold a Communal Phone-In to Report Noxious Fumes & Demand Regulatory Actio

Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling, Los Angeles (STAND-LA) is streaming LIVE on periscope to show you what neighborhood drilling really looks like. 

We found out just last night that Freeport McMoRan would be conducing a “well rework” at their Jefferson Drill site. These oil extraction jobs require a huge, noisy drill rig, tanker trucks full of unknown chemicals, and noxious fumes that spread throughout the community, giving nearby residents nausea and headaches.  

At 9:30am this morning, community members will assemble at the Jefferson Drill Site to a communal “phone-in” to report chemical odor complaints to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD). The phone is calling attention to the lack of response from the regulators who are supposedly charged with protecting the community from the toxic fumes emitted from neighborhood drilling sites. Residents will be protesting the AQMD’s overly stringent set of rules and protocol that places the onus of identifying public nuisance facilities on the community. They require 6 residents from 6 different households to call in a complaint. After calling to report noxious fumes, AQMD inspectors have taken up to
 7 hours to respond, often they do not bring monitoring equipment, and they always call the drill site to warn them that they are on their way.

LOCATION:
Budding Gate of Jefferson Drill Site
Near residence at 3029 Budlong Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
 
WHEN:  Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:00AM - 10:15 AM PST       

SPEAKERS:
  • Richard Parks, President and Executive Director of Redeemer Community Partnership
    • Redeemer Community Partnership is a member of the Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling Los Angeles (STAND-LA) coalition, which is dedicated to safeguarding the well-being, health and safety of Angelenos living and working in close proximity to oil drilling sites.
  • Niki Wong, Lead Community Organizer of Redeemer Community Partnership
  • Lillian Marenco, Long-time Neighbor of Jefferson Drill Site (Spanish Speaker)
  • Corissa Pacillas-Smith, Adjacent Resident
  • Mrs. Ghaman, Adjacent Resident
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Report Highlights Dangers of Neighborhood Oil Drilling  in Los Angeles 

11/10/2015

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Health and Safety of Local Communities Threatened by Oil Development 

​Los Angeles, CA--Today, the Liberty Hill Foundation released its Drilling Down report, which details the experiences of Los Angeles area residents who live close to oil extraction operations. Los Angeles is home to the nation’s largest urban oil field and oil production sites are known to emit toxic chemicals into the surrounding air, produce a steady stream of noise and heavy truck traffic, and leave neighbors with little information about activities conducted next door to homes and schools. Residents of the communities featured in the report – many of which already disproportionately suffer from exposure to environmental pollutants – describe health ailments including nosebleeds, nausea, respiratory illness and dizziness that they argue are a direct result of industrial oil development taking place in residential neighborhoods.

The report describes the extent of drilling in Los Angeles and the intersection of that drilling with human activity, highlighting that nearly 70% of the city’s 1,071 active wells are within 1,500 feet of a sensitive land use such as homes, schools or hospitals, magnifying the negative health impacts of oil extraction. Most of the drilling in Los Angeles takes place in communities that already suffer from the aggregate burdens of poverty, inadequate health care access and poor air quality.

“Areas near drilling operations have elevated levels of volatile organic compounds, ozone and hazardous air pollutants,” said Dr. Felix Aguilar, MD, Member of the Board at Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles. “For Angelenos who live near oil drilling, these air toxins put them at risk for not just short-term health impacts such as nosebleeds and headaches but long-term issues that result from cumulative exposure, such as asthma, heart disease, respiratory illness and cancer.” 

Earlier this year, the California Council of Science a Technology (CCST) released a state-mandated study on drilling in Los Angeles which found that the proximity to oil drilling is the single biggest contributor to the inherent health risk associated with oil extraction in urban areas. Amid the growing debate around the suitability of drilling for oil in dense urban neighborhoods, Drilling Down outlines various policy solutions including a moratorium on advanced well stimulation techniques, buffer zones between oil drilling and neighborhoods, and adding a health impact assessment requirement for drilling operations.

“We cannot be drilling for oil in the middle of our neighborhoods if we’re hoping to move towards a healthy and sustainable future for Los Angeles”, said Pastor Kelvin Sauls, Senior Pastor at Holman United Methodist Church and a member of STAND-LA. “Drilling doesn’t belong here – or in any other LA community. Drilling in neighborhoods is incompatible with the vision for vitality and dignity we all share and strive towards.” Many LA residents who share their personal stories in the report joined together to form Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling – Los Angeles (STAND-LA) to fight back against the effects of drilling in their neighborhoods. The report reaffirms STAND-LA’s mission to fighting neighborhood drilling in the name of community health, safety and quality of life.

STAND-L.A. is an environmental justice coalition of community groups that seek to end neighborhood drilling to protect the health and safety of Angelenos on the front lines of urban oil extraction. Please visit the website for more information on STAND-LA and neighborhood drilling. 

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​Acid-filled Trucks Arrive in South LA,Residents Hold a Communal Phone-In to Report Odors

11/8/2015

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Community Members Protest the Arrival of Trucks Carrying
Toxic Acids for Extreme Oil Drilling Near Their Homes

South Los Angeles--Today, residents staged a call in. This morning, tanker trucks full of corrosive acid will roll into a residential neighborhood in South L.A. Oil company Freeport McMoRan Oil and Gas (FMOG) regularly uses acids and toxic chemicals to extract oil from wells located just 60 feet from the nearest home, plaguing residents with noxious fumes, loud noises, heavy truck traffic, and the persistent risk of catastrophic accidents.
 
When FMOG announced Monday morning that they would be conducting yet another acid operation, local residents decided they had had enough. This notification is only available on an obscure, 54-character website on the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) website. There was no local notification that the trucks were arriving. In fact, there has never been local notification whenever FMOG conducts activity at the site involving thousands of gallons of toxic, corrosive chemicals.

Tomorrow, residents will be gathering at the site to take a stand against neighborhood drilling by communally phoning in odor complaints to the AQMD. The AQMD has a stringent set of rules and protocol that places the onus of identifying public nuisance facilities on the community. They require 6 residents from 6 different households to call in a complaint and verify the complaint on-site with an inspector hours later before an odor mitigation plan will be implemented. Residents have shared that after calling in a complaint AQMD inspectors have taken up to 7 hours to respond, often they do not bring monitoring equipment, and they always call the drill site to warn them that they are on their way. Tomorrow, residents will dispute FMOG’s claims that drilling operations have no impact on the surrounding community by providing first-hand accounts of the many ways the site has threatened their health, safety, and quality of life of their families.
 
Residents also plan to protest AQMD’s refusal to require local notification when oil companies bring tens of thousands of gallons of toxic acid into our community. AQMD refused to include local notification in its recent update to Rule 1148.2 on public notification. As a result families are unable to move their children out of harm’s way or even to close bedroom windows.
 
WHAT:  Community members who are negatively impacted by the operations at the Jefferson Drill site will meet along the sidewalk on the Budlong Ave side of the Jefferson Drill Site, near the address 3029 Budlong Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90007. Redeemer Community Partnership is a part of the Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling Los Angeles (STAND-LA) coalition, which is dedicated to safeguarding the well-being, health and safety of Angelenos living and working in close proximity to oil drilling sites.
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STAND-LA Applauds Pope's Encyclical, Urges L.A. Archdiocese to Follow Vatican's Lead

9/24/2015

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South L.A. Residents Seek to End Oil Drilling on Catholic Church Land

SOUTH LOS ANGELES – Today, as Pope Francis releases his historic encyclical urging world leaders to tackle the looming problem of climate change, South L.A residents are asking why the L.A. Archdiocese has not taken a stronger stance to protect their communities from oil drilling that occurs just feet from their front doors.

For years, community members have been fighting to shut down two oil sites that operate on land leased from the Catholic Church in dense residential neighborhoods. The sites, operated by AllenCo and Freeport McMoran, have become lightning rods in their communities as hydrocarbon and hydrogen sulfide emissions from the sites have caused illnesses in the community.

In 2013, nearly three years of community organizing paid off when the EPA finally shut down the AllenCo site and fined operators $99,000 after their investigators toured the site and immediately fell sick with severe headaches and nausea due to toxic chemicals. Residents have experienced a marked decrease in health problems since the shutdown—but worry what will happen when the site re-opens later this year.

The other drilling site on Archdiocese land, the Murphy site in Historic West Adams, has plagued residents with similar health and safety concerns. The site operates 24 hours a day and many neighborhood residents keep their windows closed throughout the day to out the noise, fumes and ash. 

“This is a low-income community of color that is already overburdened with a variety of health threats. The health and climate impacts of oil drilling are well documented, and yet the Archdiocese is allowing it to continue despite objections from the community," said Pastor Kelvin Sauls, of Holman United Methodist Church and resident of the community adjacent to the Murphy Site. "Religious organizations have a mandate to advocate for poor and use their resources to serve the community rather than cause it harm."

The fact that the L.A. Archdiocese is actively seeking to keep these sites open, despite demonstrated harms to the community, has disappointed residents who had hoped to see a stronger response from a religious institution that purports to protect the underprivileged. 

Last year, after hydrogen sulfide poisoning sent young Naelli Cobo to the hospital with severe headaches, stomach pains, and heart problems, she recorded a moving plea to Pope Francis, calling on him to protect her community from AllenCo’s reopening. Upon hearing the news of the Pope’s announcement today, she expressed hope that the local Archdiocese will take a stand to protect her neighborhood.  “Like the Pope said, we need to protect our common home. I hope the Archdiocese will take his words to heart.”

Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling—Los Angeles (STAND-LA) is a coalition of community groups that are dedicated to safeguarding the well-being, health and safety of Angelenos living and working in close proximity to oil drilling sites
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    STAND-L.A. is an environmental justice coalition of community groups that seek to end neighborhood drilling to protect the health and safety of Angelenos on the front lines of urban oil extraction. ​

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