Re “With Muscle and Compromise, Weissman and Sahli-Wells Rescue an Evening”
Last night’s City Council meeting on fracking was a great exercise in local democracy at work. And it was heartening that the City Council had agendized the fracking issue shortly after DOGGR's “listening tour.”
Many in the audience appeared delighted that Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells urged that Council recommend a statewide ban on fracking and disposal of fracking wastewater by injection wells rather than a moratorium.
But a few of us were disappointed that the resolution also included the words “…until DOGGR takes all necessary and appropriate actions to adopt, implement and enforce comprehensive regulations concerning the practice of fracking that will ensure that public health and safety and the environment will be adequately protected.”
The recommendation should have been for an outright ban. The ban, as adopted, was little more than a moratorium. However, activists felt they had been listened to. They immediately began gearing up for more organizing.
Further, concerned residents, activists, organizers and others from elsewhere in the region (I realize there's some overlap) had supplied the City Council with sufficient information to have voted on a ban for Culver City itself that evening. For some reason, a number of City Council members stated that they lacked sufficient information, so voting on a citywide ban would have been impossible.
As people were leaving the chambers, Suzanne De Benedittis announced to some of the assembled that she had begun talks with President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh of West L.A. College about creating of a symposium to educate the public, including the City Council. I agree with the importance of this, as three-minute speeches go only so far.
Even though Councilmember Jim Clarke initially said he favored recommending a moratorium over a ban, he also said that in his opinion any drilling activity in the oil field was dangerous, the most environmentally risky thing done in Culver City.
I was also pleased to hear his urging that the city lobby DOGGR to enact the strongest regulations possible, and that he announced that should DOGGR not enact sufficient regulations (whatever those would be), he would vote for a ban for Culver City.
I was impressed that Mayor Andy Weissman stressed the importance of obtaining information from PXP to the extent that he talked about subpoenaing PXP if necessary. Personally, I don't trust that PXP would ever provide all necessary information about its current or planned operations. So requesting or demanding information could never be sufficient.
Andy also spoke of the importance of the city sharing any relevant information with Assemblyperson Holly Mitchell (D-Culver City), state Sen. Curren Price (D-Culver City) and (presumably) County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Doing so will be helpful in educating them and gaining their assistance in furthering action toward a ban that encompasses more of the state, including the County of Los Angeles, which would take in Baldwin Hills.
Ms. Rona Tuttle may be contacted at rebecca.rona@hotmail.com
