LOS ANGELES, CA — Mayor Karen Bass signed a new oil and gas drilling ordinance Thursday, marking a milestone for the city in its efforts to phase out oil drilling and protect neighborhoods.
Bass' approval comes a day after the City Council advanced the measure. The gas and oil ordinance mandates that all existing oil and gas activities are a nonconforming use in all zones.
Any oil wells and gas activities would be phased out within a 20-year period unless authorized by the city as an approved "well maintenance, well servicing exception and/or health and safety exception," according city documents.
"For too long, communities throughout Los Angeles have lived with the impacts of oil and gas drilling in their neighborhoods, leading to significant health conditions. We're changing this," Bass said.
"I have fought for environmental justice throughout my career, from the State Assembly to Congress and now as Mayor. Signing this ordinance is another important step toward phasing out oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles once and for all," Bass said.
The ordinance also creates a separate review process to permit such activities only to prevent, respond to or cease credible threats to public health, safety or the environment.
"No one should have to live near an oil drilling site. In South L.A., working-class families have had corporations drilling across the street from their homes," Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said in a statement. "Today's vote marks a historic step forward for environmental justice and public health in Los Angeles."
Oil drilling operations can affect nearby neighborhoods through emissions, odors, noise, spills, truck traffic and other land-use impacts. These burdens have disproportionately impacted frontline communities and communities of color, particularly where drilling sites are located near homes, schools, parks, places of worship and health care facilities.
The ordinance builds on years of community advocacy and the city's previous efforts to phase out oil drilling. In December 2022, the city adopted an ordinance to prohibit new oil and gas extraction and designate existing operations as nonconforming uses. Following legal challenges, the ordinance was rescinded after a court ruling.
State lawmakers subsequently passed AB 3233, reaffirming local authority to regulate or prohibit oil and gas development. The updated ordinance uses that authority to reestablish the citywide approach to phasing out oil and gas drilling.
"For more than a decade, residents across Los Angeles have been fighting for something pretty straightforward: Oil wells do not belong next to their homes, schools and daycare centers," Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky said in a statement.
City officials also thanked Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling, or STAND-LA, for its 14 years of work on the issue.
"Now we need to finish the job by making sure these wells are properly plugged, these sites are cleaned up and the companies responsible are held accountable," Yaroslavsky added.
STAND-LA issued a statement acknowledging Bass and the City Council for supporting the ordinance.
"While this is an important step, signing this ordinance today is not the end, but instead the start of the city's commitment to environmental justice," the statement said. "Tomorrow, frontline residents will still wake up next to drilling in their neighborhoods — and will continue to advocate for city leaders to protect their health from toxic oil pollution."
City News Service
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