Hermosa Voters to Decide Fate of Massive Oil-Drilling Project with Measure O

Voters in Hermosa Beach will decide today whether to support a proposed oil-drilling project in the city.

Hermosa Beach’s Measure O would allow a drilling project proposed by E&B Natural Resources Management Corp., with proponents contending in a ballot argument that the project could generate “hundreds of millions of dollars of new revenue,” that could be used to hire firefighters and police officers, while upgrading the city’s infrastructure.

Backers insisted that the drilling proposal will not involve fracking or off-shore drilling platforms and “no permanent equipment visible above the walls at the currently contaminated city maintenance yard.”

Opponents of the project, however, argue the project will include a roughly nine-story-tall drilling rig, 30 oil and gas wells and miles of dangerous underground pipelines that will “threaten our quality of life and our health.”

They contend the project will lead to increased air pollution, and also claim any accidents at the drilling site could endanger lives.

• City News Service