County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the nexus person, presumably the ultimate Los Angeles government authority on regulating oil drilling in the Baldwin Hills, obviously was stunned by the County Regional Planning Commission last Wednesday.
And now what is she going to do?
When planning commissioners hinted they may delay their recommendation vote on Sept, 10 that is to be forwarded to the Supervisors, Ms. Brathwaite Burke was in Denver at the Democratic convention.
Not that it would have mattered from an appearance standpoint. While Culver City area residents have conducted a disciplined, carefully researched campaign all summer against rushing through the two large governing documents on drilling in the Inglewood oil field, Ms. Brathwaite Burke, just weeks away from retirement, has remained pointedly invisible.
Did the Supervisor’s scrupulously devised voting timetable just blow up?
Can her strongly pursued final moment of glory yet slip through her fingers?
If the Planning Commission decides at its afternoon meeting on Wednesday, Sept.10, to postpone making a recommendation because more time is needed for members and for the public to consider the changes, how would that affect the Board of Supervisors’ binding vote in the third week of October?
From Denver, Ms. Brathwaite Burke approved the following 113-word statement that can be interporeted as saying to residents and commissioners, “You better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout, and I am telling you why.”
Her words:
“We remain committed to fostering this open and transparent process, and to date, the Planning Dept. has engaged in an unprecedented amount of public outreach and education.
“However, I am concerned that if the County fails to impose a Community Standards District for Baldwin Hills oil drilling prior to the end of October — when PXP intends to pursue new drilling applications to the state agency Dept. of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) — it’s very likely that DOGGR will approve new unmonitored and unregulated drilling that could jeopardize the health and safety of surrounding communities.
“We continue to look forward to a CSD reaching the Board of Supervisors in late October.”
Ms. Brathwaite Burke’s objective is to squeeze in the Sups’ decisive vote on drilling before the Nov. 4 election. Otherwise, her successor, either state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City) or Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks, will be positioned to bow and receive the credits for which the departing Supervisor yearns, if only for auld lange syne.
