Fenceline residents and leaders claim the report fails to recommend sufficient protections against the health impacts of oil drilling

LOS ANGELES — The City of Los Angeles released a report conducted by the Petroleum Administrator's office analyzing the feasibility of a phase-out of oil and gas operations in communities. The report recommends that the City implement a 600-foot health and safety buffer between communities and existing oil wells, as well as a 1,500-foot buffer for new wells. If implemented, the proposed setback would phase out active oil wells over time within 600 feet of sensitive land uses such as homes, schools, and medical facilities. 

The City’s report comes over two years after the Los Angeles City Council introduced a motion in June 2017, which gave the Petroleum Administrator a 120-day deadline to conduct this study. For the past two years, fenceline residents have worked closely with Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling (STAND-L.A.) coalition and have pushed City leaders for the release of the report and health protective recommendations. STAND-L.A. is a diverse coalition of environmental justice, public health and faith-based groups.

“The report’s release is a long-awaited victory for fenceline communities, whose leadership has forced City officials to acknowledge the health impacts of Big Oil. The City is finally ready to move toward a citywide policy that addresses oil drilling in LA neighborhoods. However, the report’s recommendation for a 600-foot buffer is not nearly enough. The report fails to incorporate the best available science to recommend effective protections. We refuse to put a price on entire communities that are exposed to toxic oil emissions, and we refuse to sacrifice entire communities by accepting a 600-foot recommendation. Unlike oil companies, we don't discount the value of human life and community health.” said Martha Dina Argüello, co-chair of Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling and Executive Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-LA. 

The STAND-L.A. coalition has pushed for the release of the report as a necessary next step in implementing a 2,500-foot health and safety buffer intended to protect residents impacted by oil drilling in their neighborhoods. The report’s recommendation for a 600-foot buffer falls far lower than the coalition’s demand for 2,500 feet, which is referenced in multiple scientific studies on the health and safety impacts of oil and gas operations. These studies indicate that public health risks of exposure to toxic air contaminants (such as benzene and aliphatic hydrocarbons) are most significant within ½ mile (800 meters or 2,625 feet) from active oil and gas development.

“There is a growing body of research that shows that the closer someone lives to an oil and gas development facility, the higher the risk of being exposed to multiple health harming pollutants emitted from that facility,” said Bhavna Shamasunder, Associate Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College. “Studies have shown worse pregnancy and birth outcomes, migraine headaches, asthma exacerbations, loss of smell, respiratory illness, and psychological stress. These risks are of great concern in a densely-populated city like Los Angeles, where oil wells operate just feet away from homes, schools, and medical facilities. The evidence from Los Angeles and around the country should guide decision-making and public health protective action by city leaders.”

The study released today supplements a health report published last year by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH), which confirmed that oil and gas extraction presents major public health concerns. The DPH report specifically highlighted the dangers that oil drilling poses to residents living in close proximity to wells and cited distance as a major risk factor. The DPH report itself does not recommend a distance, but noted that 1,500 feet is not enough to fully protect residents against explosions, fires, and other potential disasters.

In the City of Los Angeles Basin, 230,000 people live - and a large number of schools, elderly facilities, and daycare facilities are sited - within 2,500 feet of an active oil and gas well. Research shows that the impacts of fossil fuel infrastructure disproportionately impact working class communities of color, who are exposed to air toxins emitted from oil development and transport. Thousands of Angelenos living over 600 feet from active oil wells would remain unprotected from toxic emissions near their homes.

“My family knows what it’s like to live next to an oil well. If our city moves forward with a 600-foot buffer policy, many families will still be in danger,” said Beatriz, a resident of Wilmington and a leader at Communities for a Better Environment’s Wilmington Youth for Environmental Justice. “We’ve marched, we rallied, and we’ve gone to City Hall to demand that leaders release the report and take action - only to learn that many Wilmington residents will remain unprotected. Our leaders need to step up to a 2,500-foot health and safety buffer. I love my community, and it is high time for politicians to prioritize our health, which is not possible with a 600-foot buffer."

In addition to setback recommendations, the report also advised the City to establish regulatory measures and health and safety monitoring to mitigate the impacts of new and existing drill sites. Recently, Governor Gavin Newsom dismissed the head of DOGGR, the state agency principally responsible for enforcing these regulations, after finding that department officials overseeing key decisions for the oil industry owned shares in major oil companies. 

“We’re talking about toxic facilities that regularly experience explosions, fires, and spills, located right next to homes and schools and daycare centers. Those are two fundamentally incompatible things. Communities like ours - those who live just feet away from harmful drill sites like AllenCo - have experienced too many cases of regulators’ negligence and incompetence to believe that regulation can help them,” said Rabeya Sen, Director of Policy at Esperanza Community Housing Corporation. “On top of that, we’ve now seen that top regulators are in the pockets of the oil industry rather than in service of community health. It’s clear more regulation is not the answer; a phase-out plan for wells in residential communities is the only way forward.”

As the City moves forward with implementation of the City’s Sustainability pLAn, environmental justice and climate advocates continue to push Mayor Garcetti and City Council to include a 2,500-foot health and safety as a core policy and move the city forward on a path to a clean energy economy. 

“It’s clear our elected officials are committed to making Los Angeles an environmental leader in the country and the world. In this case, that means taking much bolder action than what is recommended in this report. For years, the leaders on this issue have been residents living next door to wells and refineries. Now it’s on City leaders to take the baton, put public health over polluting industries and implement a health and safety buffer of 2,500 feet,” said Jante Pruitt, Organizing Director of SCOPE-L.A.

“We are encouraged that the City of Los Angeles is acknowledging the urgent need to reform the way it permits oil drilling in a systematic way. We look forward to working with impacted communities, City leaders, workers, and forwarding-looking members of the business community to identify win-win revitalization and workforce development programs and policies that will further facilitate a health protective phaseout strategy,” said Bahram Fazeli, co-chair of STAND-L.A. and Policy Director at Communities for a Better Environment.