At the Town Hall meeting called last Thursday night by County Supervisr Mark Ridley-Thomas, I stated to the audience that I wished PXP representatives would have been on the stage to be grilled by the audience and responded to their complaints.
I think the audience responded very well to my request. Unfortunately, no PXP representative was there. I don't think that is very wise for a corporation such as PXP to ignore any forum to get their message out.
I called John Martini, Manager of Government Affairs of PXP. I asked him why PXP wasn't at the Town Hall meeting. The impression I got was that they were tired of getting beaten up at these onesided forums. They were “lawyered up” and couldn't discuss things because of the lawsuits.
I mentioned to him that City Councilmen were interested in direct talks with PXP. He thought it was a good idea and that it could save hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees if things could be worked out.
I am willing to be the moderator to get the City Council talking directly to PXP without meddlesome lawyers. We'll see if PXP's John Martini will follow through.
I made the following statement to the audience:
“The Culver City Council has spent over $500,000 of our taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit preventing PXP from oil drilling. Meanwhile the city is collecting over $200,000 a year from existing oil wells operating in Culver City. Doesn’t it seem hypocritical that the city is collecting $200,000, then spending more than $500,000 to stop oil drilling?
“If the issue was really about ‘public health and safety,’ why doesn’t the city shut down the existing wells in Culver City that are pumping oil?
“The only people benefiting from all this are the lawyers! As we all know, when lawyers get involved in anything, they tend to exacerbate a problem instead of trying to fix it. Instead of having two parties sit down at a table, communicate and iron out their differences, lawyers instruct their clients not to talk to the other side. The lawyers jack up the fees and are quite content to see litigation drag on.
I have talked to a couple of City Council members. They have indicated that they would be open to direct talks with PXP. Perhaps PXP and the city can sit at a table and iron out their differences without these lawsuits that are costing us so much money and not accomplishing anything except to get people mad at each other.
Please call: PXP: Lisa Paillet, Ombudsmen, 323.298.2291.
City Council: Andrew Weissman, Mayor, 310. 839.5217, Christopher Armenta, 310.720.2831, D.Scott Maisin, 310.398.3183, Mehaul O’Leary, 310. 837.1917, and Gary Silbiger, 310.837.2667.
Mr. Zirgulis, a School Board candidate, may be contacted at zirgulisr@yahoo.com
