L.A. needs to be more proactive on checking oil sites, city controller says

A reciprocating piston pump, commonly known as a pumpjack or rocking horse, pulls oil from the ground in a Wilmington neighborhood. Los Angeles has had a “lax and reactive” approach to checking to see if oil and gas drilling sites are operating in line with city conditions, City Controller Ron Galperin said in a new report Wednesday that calls on the city to step up its oversight. Galperin and his staff found that generally, “the city did not effectively exercise local control over oil and gas drilling sites due to the historical nature of drilling activity combined with a fragmented approach to oversight.” Hiring Ntuk to oversee oil and gas operations across the city — a job that had not been filled consistently for decades — was a good step toward fixing that, the controller said. The company that now owns the site, Sentinel Peak Resources, has since sued the city over the decision, calling the requirements “unduly oppressive.” The report said that process, which was spurred by complaints from neighbors, “may serve as a model for future oversight activities,” but that the city needed to regularly and proactively check on all drilling sites. Chief Executive Rock Zierman said in a written statement that while the industry group supported many of the recommendations, “the report fails to acknowledge the significant changes enacted at the state level that have increased neighborhood air quality monitoring as well as the testing, monitoring, and surety bonds required for idle wells.” “Raising taxes on oil in the city of Los Angeles will not improve well safety,” Zierman added, pointing out that L.A. voters had rejected such a tax in the past.