Facts

In the 1990s, Plains Exploration & Production obtained drilling rights at the 1,100 acre Inglewood field near Los Angeles, and by 2004 began renewed drilling of oil wells in the area. In 2006, nearby residents noted strong odors resulting from renewed drilling. In response to concerns raised by Culver City, the County of Los Angeles imposed interim restrictions on new drilling, followed by a moratorium pending the County's adoption of a zoning overlay district with permanent drilling regulations for this oil field.

In 2008, after the County certified its Environmental Impact Report and adopted the permanent zoning regulations, Culver City, Concerned Citizens of South Los Angeles, the Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community, Community Health Councils Inc., Natural Resources Defense Council, and Mark Salkin filed suit, challenging the adequacy of the County's EIR and seeking to decrease drilling and calling for a more empirical health study.

PETITIONERS' CONTENTIONS:
Petitioners argued that the County should be required to revise and recirculate an Environmental Impact Report fully compliant with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and strengthen the provisions of the County ordinance regulating future drilling activities in the oil field. Among other things, petitioners asserted that the EIR failed to contain a legally adequate project description, failed to adequately describe the environmental setting, failed to use proper thresholds of significance, lacked feasible and effective mitigation measures, failed to consider a reasonable range of project alternatives, and failed to identify significant irreversible environmental impacts of the permanent oil drilling ordinance.

Result

The parties reached a settlement through the mediation efforts of the California Attorney General's office (Ken Alex and Brian Hembacher) under which the maximum number of new wells drilled over the next 20 years would be reduced from 600 to 500, the maximum number of wells to be drilled annually is reduced from 54 to 35, deep wells will be drilled further away from developed areas if feasible (as determined by an annual study), the closure of existing wells near developed areas is incentivized, clean technology will be implemented for new equipment where feasible air quality monitoring at property line will take place, and strengthened noise limits and expedited landscaping requirements will be implemented. In addition, a community health assessment with an environmental justice component, a fracking study, and cleanup efforts will be performed. Also, the petitioners will be paid $1,600,000 in attorney fees.