Assembling at three separate locations, Culver Crest area residents will join other concerned neighbors at 9 a.m. Saturday before marching to the Inglewood oilfield, 5640 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, to protest the pace and tone of drilling regulations that Los Angeles County is about to approve.
The march begins at 9:30.
The oilfield is two blocks west of LaBrea and one block north of Slauson Avenue.
Gary Gless, one of the prime movers of the march and one of the most outspoken critics of the County’s accelerated review and approval process, listed the following starting points:
• Northeast corner of Slauson and Overhill
• Northeast corner of Slauson and Corning
Southwest corner of Slauson and Ladera Park Avenue, one block west of LaBrea.
Taking to the streets is by far the most overt display of feelings by the hundreds of well organized neighbors within the orbit of the two-mile oilfield where Plains, Production & Exploration Co., PXP, intends to step up its pace of drilling after one more hurdle is cleared.
On Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., with Yvonne Brathwaite Burke sitting in the driver’s seat, the five-member County Board of Supervisors is expected to rubber stamp two documents ratified 10 days ago by the County Regional Planning Commission. The historic meeting will be on the Supervisors’ home grounds, 500 W. Temple St., downtown Los Angeles.
The hardiest of activists still are holding out hope that significant tightening can be achieved in the Community Standards District and the Environmental Impact Report before they are finalized.
But with the powerful Ms. Burke on the ledge of retiring, numerous sources are in unified agreement that she will not let anything interfere with passage before the Nov. 4, supposedly ensuring a tall legacy for her.
“There has been a huge outcry against the proposed CSD and against the lack of time given the community and important agencies,” said Mr. Gless of the Windsor Hills Homeowners Assn.
“Yet, Yvonne Burke called me two months ago to say she was going to pass this CSD before she leaves office, period.
“Why would she rush an important decision that will have such a huge impact on the entire County before getting all the data and information?
“PXP isn’t even adequately insured to protect workers, our school children in 45 nearby schools and the one million residents living around the area. Who pays if there is a disaster? It will be the taxpayers, not PXP. We don’t think this is fair. And if it’s not safe enough for insurance companies to insure, it’s not safe enough for our families.
“Catastrophic events have happened in geologically similar oil fields in Texas and Kansas where the oil recovery technique was planned by PXP. These inherent hazards of oil drilling cannot be mitigated.
“In 1963” Mr. Gless continued, “the failure of the Baldwin Hills reservoir took five lives and destroyed 277 homes. This disaster resulted from subsidence caused by exploitation of the Inglewood /Baldwin Hills oilfield. PXP claims oil operations are now being conducted in a manner that avoids further subsidence. But there are independent experts who disagree and recommend careful study of the actual oil field to determine if expanding oil operations would be safe in Baldwin Hills.”
Mr. Gless said that community leaders demand that the Board of Supervisors votes no on Tuesday on the adoption of the CSD that he said is “supported and largely written by PXP” until proper studies of the land/oilfield itself have been done, baseline health data provided, important geological data turned over and all appropriate local and state agencies given sufficient time to review and comment.
Mr. Gless and his community ally Earl Ofari Hutchinson may be contacted at viewparkinfo@gmail.com
