A New Vision for a South LA Oil Drilling Site

The Los Neigh­bor­hood Land Trust plans to rede­vel­op a 1.86-acre for­mer oil drilling site in Los Ange­les into a com­plex with afford­able , a com­mu­ni­ty , and a park. The non­prof­it, which pur­chased the lot, is look­ing for fund­ing to bring that vision to fruition, reports Dorany Pine­da in the Los Ange­les Times.

“The sale marks a new chap­ter in a per­sis­tent and com­mu­ni­ty-led fight against the oil drilling site, which res­i­dents argued for years was noisy and spewed foul odors. It also comes at a time of con­cerns about the risks and inequities of urban drilling in neigh­bor­hoods,” Pine­da writes.

Cal­i­for­nia is lit­tered with both active and defunct oil wells, many in neigh­bor­hoods, pos­ing risks to the sur­round­ing . In Decem­ber of 2022, Los Ange­les announced it would phase out active drilling and ban new wells, set­ting the stage for a land­scape dot­ted with non-oper­a­tional for­mer drilling sites. “Tori Kjer, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the L.A. Neigh­bor­hood Land Trust, it is crit­i­cal that sites are trans­formed into uses that ben­e­fit com­mu­ni­ties his­tor­i­cal­ly affect­ed by oil drilling.”

The project is a long way from real­i­ty, but the com­mu­ni­ty has already suc­cess­ful­ly fought to shut down the drilling site—“situated clos­er to homes than any oth­er city drilling facility”—and to have the wells capped and equip­ment removed. Now, a $10 mil­lion state grant is help­ing fund the cre­ation of a vision for the future of the site.

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