Just before the scheduled starting hour of 9:30 this morning, a City Hall veteran scanned the vast crowd of empty seats at the Vets Auditorium and reached for a twice-told line:
“What if they gave a party and no one showed up?”
Someone did, eventually.
However, they could have arrived in the same car.
What was billed as a community forum – to deliver input to the City Council and to state Assemblyperson Holly J. Mitchell before a fracking ordinance in Culver City and a fracking regulation in Sacramento are developed, turned into a pancake. Yesterday’s. Cold and flat.
A three-person panel – led by Mayor Andy Weissman and including Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells and an ailing Ms. Mitchell – took anti-fracking testimony for two hours and 10 minutes.
They started 10 minutes late. They finished 40 minutes early, which tellingly summarizes the morning.
No new ground was broken. No new words were spoken.
Rummaging Through Why
The odd hour – 9:30 on a weekday – was at least partially to blame for the condensed turnout.
Brenna Norton of foodandwaterwatch.org, the first person speaker this morning, said she represented “tons of activists and students who wanted to be here” but were obligated to work or study elsewhere.
Another explanation is that after months of vociferously protesting the perceived perils of the fracking form of oil drilling, even the most ardent are talked out.
And if they aren’t, the policymakers probably are.
Sherry Jordan, City Hall’s project manager for researching and wording the promised ordinance, said March is the target for unveiling the new law.
Mayor Weissman set for tone for the program in his opening address:
“On behalf of the City Council, we appreciate the community coming here today. At the direction of the City Council, we are holding this public meeting to receive information and comments from the community relating to the use of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’), which will be helpful during the city’s drafting of its updated oil drilling regulations.
“For Culver City, protecting our people and our health, safety and quality of life come first.
“We understand that neighborhoods and communities that surround the (Inglewood, also known as Baldwin Hills) Oil Field, many of which are represented by you today, have serious concerns about the potential impacts of fracking to the environment and their own health and safety.
“We are in the process of developing a new ordinance relating to the anticipated drilling of dozens of new wells within Culver City limits. But we still have concerns regarding what the city is really able to do with respect to fracking. In just a moment, city staff will provide you with an update as to the status of the city’s draft ordinance.
“The Baldwin Hills Oil Field encompasses about 1,000 acres; only 10 percent of the oil field actually lies within Culver City limits, the rest of which is in unincorporated Los Angeles County, and regulated by the County’s Baldwin Hills Community Standards District.
“To the extent Culver City regulates fracking, those regulations can only affect a small portion of the oil field’s operations.
Regardless of whatever we in Culver City may decide to do in our 100 acres of the oil field, our local regulations will only have a limited impact in addressing the larger public health, safety and the environmental contamination issues in the remaining 900 acres of the Los Angeles County portion of the oil field.
“The concerns over fracking are multi-jurisdictional, regional concerns, and even statewide concerns, which should be addressed with comprehensive action taken by the state. However, to the extent that fracking and its impacts can be regulated by the city, we will be vigilant in protecting the environment and our community.
“Culver City, and the County of Los Angeles for that matter, may have the will, but do not have the same level of authority to regulate fracking as the state does.
The city carefully has reviewed the fracking study prepared by (the oil drilling company) PXP. That study provides some information but it is not without its flaws and omissions. We will continue to consider that study and other information as it becomes available.
“We hope to receive information from you today that will help further inform the city’s drafting of its oil drilling ordinance.”
