Los Angeles mayor signs ban on oil and gas drilling
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has signed an ordinance prohibiting new oil and gas drilling throughout the city and establishing a 20-year timetable to phase out existing wells.
Under the new ordinance, current drilling sites are designated as “nonconforming uses” and must cease operations within two decades, unless an earlier deadline applies. The ordinance restricts the expansion and redevelopment of existing operations while establishing limited exceptions for work strictly necessary to address public health, safety or environmental threats.
Bass, who is running for reelection on Tuesday against Los Angeles City Council member and fellow Democrat Nithya Raman, framed the legislation as a long-overdue victory for environmental justice in frontline neighborhoods that have historically borne the brunt of urban drilling.
The Center Square reached out to Bass and her office, but did not hear back by publication time.
“For too long, communities throughout Los Angeles have lived with the impacts of oil and gas drilling in their neighborhoods, leading to significant health conditions,” Bass said in a press release on Thursday, the day she signed the ban. “Signing this ordinance is another important step toward phasing out oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles once and for all.”
The city previously passed a similar ban in December 2022, but the measure was rescinded following legal challenges from oil companies. Warren Resources, E&B Natural Resources, and Hillcrest Beverly Oil Corp sued the city of Los Angeles. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge struck down the ban in 2024.
City leaders moved forward with the updated ordinance after state lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 3233, which reaffirmed local governments’ legal authority to regulate or prohibit oil and gas development.
“The health of our communities always comes first,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, at the 2024 bill signing in Inglewood, a city in Los Angeles County.
Supporters of the measure, including members of the coalition Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling, Los Angeles (STAND-LA) and the Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin of Holman United Methodist Church, praised the signing as a precedent-setting moment for urban centers nationwide. However, community advocates noted that signing the law is only an initial step, calling on city officials to ensure proper plugging and cleanup of legacy sites.
Energy industry proponents argue that local bans do not eliminate the demand for fossil fuels. Rather, they shift the source for the fuels, penalizing working-class residents with higher prices at the pump and at home, analyst say.
“If Mayor Bass truly believes in the green agenda, she should live by her own rules and personally give up all oil and gas: no gas-powered cars, no flights and no plastics,” said Larry Behrens, communications director for Power the Future.
“Of course she won’t because politicians like Bass never live by the elitist rules they force on working families,” Behrens told The Center Square in an email. “Rules like this are why California imports over 60 percent of its oil from outside the United States — because bans don’t cut demand, they just drive prices to the highest in the nation.”
Data from the California Energy Commission highlights the dramatic shift in California’s oil supply over the past three decades. According to state energy reports, foreign oil accounted for less than 10% of California’s supply 30 years ago. Today, foreign imports make up roughly 61% of the state’s oil supply as local production has declined amidst expanding regulatory restrictions.
“That’s what bans do,” said Behrens.
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