Second in a series

Re “Small Identifies End Game at Oil Field”

In meticulously sifting through potential solutions for vanquishing odors from the Inglewood Oil Field, Vice Mayor Thomas Small said:
“The only game is not to have to be extracting oil anymore, particularly in this urban situation near peoples’ houses.

“As for the best way to get there,” said the scholarly vice mayor, “we need to be constantly stepping away and looking at that.”

Protests are as embedded in the oil field history as the derricks, and Mr. Small took note.

“It is happening constantly that people get very passionate about the details of how that should happen,” he said, attaching a warning:

“The trouble is you get caught up in the details and you are not seeing the forest for the trees.”

Mr. Small served up one more crucial piece of counsel for enthusiastic activists.

“It is a very large subject, and it is difficult to break it down into soundbites, I will tell you that.”

Is there any upside to the late-hour withdrawal of Sentinel Peak Resources, the oil field operator, from the ballyhooed public debate over a new set of regulations?

“Their withdrawal gives clarity to what to do next and how to move forward,” Mr. Small said.

“In this society, we tend to solve too many problems through conflict – often in court. It is a very litigious society, which creates a lot of waste.”

(To be continued)