LA communities kick out Big Oil

LA residents fought urban oil drilling for years — it's now been banned by the city Image: Gissela C./STAND-L.A.

Los Angeles has become the largest city in the US to ban oil drilling, after years of lawsuits and campaigning by residents who raised the alarm over pollution and potential health risks from nearby wells .

"Front-line communities have pushed the city for a solution for this for over a decade," said local resident Wendy Miranda, who has campaigned for years with STAND-LA, a coalition of community groups working to end neighborhood oil drilling.

The ordinance, approved by the LA City Council on October 28, puts an immediate stop to oil extraction and bans the redrilling or deepening of wells. Existing operations must be phased out within city limits over the next 20 years.

Though LA City is only part of greater Los Angeles, the move affects hundreds of active wells and thousands of inactive ones, many located in working class communities of color.

"In South LA, working-class families have had corporations drilling across the street from their homes," said council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson in a statement. "No one should have to live near an oil drilling site."

Rock Zierman, CEO of the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA), told DW, "CIPA believes this ordinance constitutes an unlawful taking of private property."

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