The Los Angeles City Council moved Wednesday to set up an office that will provide expert advice on petroleum and natural gas activity in the city, two years after the panel had agreed to impose a moratorium on fracking.
The council voted to create a Petroleum and Natural Gas Administration and Safety Office under the supervision of the Board of Public Works, essentially moving and expanding tasks that had been dealt with part-time under the City Administrative Officer.
Among the anticipated tasks of the new office will be to assist city departments “in need of petroleum/natural gas expert services.” For some council members, this means potential movement on a stalled plan to ban fracking in Los Angeles. Fracking is the practice of drilling into the earth to extract gas from rocks.
Councilman Mike Bonin said the city was unable to properly draft the ordinance language for the moratorium because it lacked an expert in the petroleum and natural gas field.
The need for this expert “came about because we were told in no uncertain terms that if we proceeded with the ban on fracking that this council endorsed — I believe unanimously — about two years ago, we would be sued by the dirty energy industry,” Bonin said.
To ensure the ban would stand up to legal challenges, “we needed advice from an expert in the field who can help us make our decision on the final ordinance language,” he said, adding that “I still believe very strongly that we need to place that moratorium.”
“We need to make good on the promise we made to people in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles a couple of years ago, and we need to stop dangerous drilling in our neighborhoods — and this provision is essential to get that done,” he said.
The new office and the yet-to-be hired petroleum administrator are also expected to negotiate — with the help of a petroleum and natural gas expert — the renewals of expired franchise agreements with oil and natural gas pipeline companies, such as Southern California Gas Co., that pay fees to operate within Los Angeles.
— Wire reports