Responding to concerns raised by activists about the effects of urban oil and gas fields on neighboring communities, members of the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday proposed hiring a full-time petroleum administrator to oversee all oil and gas production activity in the city.
The motion calls for a “more proactive approach to ensure that oil and gas production in the city is conducted in the safest manner possible” and would direct city officials to immediately hire a petroleum administrator on a full-time basis.
The motion was introduced by Council President Herb Wesson and seconded by councilmen Paul Koretz, Mike Bonin and Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
Residents in South Los Angeles and other areas have complained in recent years about urban oil fields, saying noxious fumes and frequent trips of oil or gas-hauling trucks put surrounding communities at risk.
The motion also comes as residents of Porter Ranch are exposed to an ongoing natural gas leak at a nearby natural gas storage facility that began more than three months ago and has yet to be fixed. The facility is just outside city boundaries.
The petroleum administrator position is not new and “has historically been in charge of making sure the city was receiving the correct fees and taxes from oil drilling activity” in the city, according Bonin aide David Graham- Caso.
The motion would “expand on that role to also do things like investigate subsidence problems and report on other matters related directly to the exploration or production of petroleum,” Graham-Caso said.
The motion will be considered in the Budget and Finance Committee.
–City News Service