Re “Council Steps Into a Messy Quandary with State Over Fracking Ban”
(See pdf below)
When the City Council on Monday evening heatedly debates the conundrum of a hometown ban on fracking or settles for merely sending a resolution to Sacramento asking for a statewide moratorium, the elephant in the room will be the PXP, Plains Exploration & Production company.
PXP has the most to gain or the most to lose, depending on which way the momentum sways, in Sacramento and possibly Culver City.
Without delving into PXP’s reaction to the sudden and high-decibel nationwide outcry against the disputed method of oil drilling, the Texas-based firm stepped back this afternoon and first shaded its eyes from the early-summer Westside sun.
In typical manner, Steve Rusch, PXP’s Vice President, Environmental, Health, Safety and Government Affairs, served up a restrained assessment of the gathering chaos.
The company has no plans to frack in Culver City, he said. Whatever strategy PXP adopts, it will not be formulated until after July 15, by which time an independent expert will evaluate PXP’s intentions for the Baldwin Hills Oil Field.
Here is Mr. Rusch’s 235-word statement:
“As you know, PXP is in the process of having a study prepared that examines the actual application of hydraulic fracturing technology in the Inglewood Oil Field.
“It will be the first site-specific study of its type in California. Likely, it will be useful in helping address, from a scientific, engineering and geologic standpoint, many of the questions that have been raised about the technology.
“The study is being prepared as a direct result of the settlement agreement with Culver City and other litigants over L.A. County’s adoption of the CSD (Community Standards District). The study requirement was included in the agreement because there is a lot of public confusion and questions about the technology, based on media reports that have circulated both locally and nationally.
“Per the terms of the settlement agreement, the study will be submitted to an independent peer reviewer by July 15 for evaluation and eventually released to the public in the next several months.
“From our perspective the study was requested to help answer questions. It would be most prudent for any policy recommendations to be held off until the public has been given a chance to review the results of the study.
“PXP has no pending applications in front of Culver City. We have no plans to drill and complete wells in Culver City using high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, the cause of so much media attention.”
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