The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously advanced legislation to freeze new oil and gas drilling and phase out all existing production for the next 20 years. LA is home to more than 2,000 active oil wells.
The measure stimulates a a similar ban was passed in 2022what was there beaten by the judge following legal challenges from the oil and gas industry.
It must pass a second vote before final approval later this summer, and would make LA the largest city in the United States to decommission existing oil wells.
“Today, Los Angeles made a decision that is consistent with our need to turn the page on urban oil drilling,” Council Member Katy Yaroslavsky said at Tuesday’s council meeting. “The absence of effective oil legislation has had real consequences for our communities.”
The 2022 ban was seen as a landmark step in a region built on the petroleum industry.
But in 2024, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge upheld the law, ruling that the state, not the city, had the right to produce gasoline. The legal challenge was brought by oil companies including Warren Resources, which operates a major oil field in Wilmington. Most of the territory is under the city of Long Beach, but it also extends under Los Angeles.
Shortly thereafter, state legislatures advanced Assembly Bill 3233, which reaffirmed city and county authority to regulate oil and gas activity. It was widely regarded as the missing piece that jeopardized the original system.
“There is now no doubt that cities have the authority to regulate, limit and prohibit oil and gas operations in our area,” Yaroslavsky said.
The new law, written by the Department of City Planning, prohibits new oil and gas exploration, including drilling, re-drilling or deepening existing oil wells for production purposes. It also defines all existing and active passive sources as “non-conforming uses,” meaning they can only be used during a phase-out and are no longer compatible with current zoning.
Warren Resources, which led the case against the previous ban, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company previously argued that the 2022 ban was rushed and would lead to more oil being sold in the region, causing more gas from tankers and trucks and other environmental impacts.
Many fountains in the city operate near schools, homes and parks. Most are concentrated in low-income areas and communities of color, such as Wilmington and the Bay Area, West LA and South LA, where residents have long reported breathing problems, headaches, sore throats and other health problems. Research has found that oil sources can release carcinogens and are linked to adverse health effects.
“This legislation is such an important step to give the entire frontline community in Los Angeles access to clean air,” said Silvia Esparza, a South LA resident and member of the environmental justice group Stand-LA, at a news conference ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
Ashley Hernandez, a Wilmington resident and organizer of the nonprofit Communities for a Better Place, said bloody noses and noxious fumes are part of life in the neighborhood growing up.
He noted that in addition to oil drilling, LA residents continue to face other environmental hazards, such as the recent oil pipeline rupture that sent contaminants into the LA River or the ongoing cold storage fire in Boyle Heights that is releasing toxic fumes.
“I’m here to remind the city of LA and these toxic neighbors that the citizens of Wilmington are worth more than any ‘black gold’ under their houses,” Hernandez said. “We need our city to protect our families now and stop the oil industry’s dominance in our city. The passage of the end-of-oil law today gives the city an opportunity to right this wrong.”
Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.
