The Los Angeles City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee voted Friday to approve a motion aimed at closing down a drill site located in the West Pico Area of Los Angeles.

The massive oil rig tower sits in the Pico-Robertson area between Cardiff Avenue and South Oakhurst Drive and is operated by Pacific Coast Energy Company. The drill site was originally constructed in 1966 and has functioned as an active drill site since then.

Friday’s motion, introduced by the Westside’s 5^th Council District Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and Councilmember Tim McOsker, is located in the 9100 block of West Pico Boulevard and has long been a concern to the adjacent communities due to odors, noise, air pollution, including an oil spill in late 2021.

According to Yaroslavsky, the “Problematic” operating history of this site most recently prompted the City Council to adopt a motion in 2021 for a complete review of the site.

The motion calls for the termination of the expired franchise agreement as soon as possible, investigation of any outstanding code violations, and a citywide review of other pipeline franchise agreements and to identify all pipelines operating on an interim basis as of January 2024.

“Our communities deserve clean air, healthy neighborhoods, and a sustainable future. Given our city’s work to protect public health and end fossil fuel extraction citywide, it makes no sense to allow a pipeline serving this problematic drill site to continue to operate on an interim basis,” Yaroslavsky said in a statement.

“This motion is a decisive step towards remediating a decades-long public health hazard to the surrounding community, and is a component of our broader fight against climate change,” she added.

The motion requests the City Petroleum Administrator to prepare options within 30 days to terminate the expired franchise agreement for the pipeline as soon as possible.

It also directs the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Petroleum Administrator and other departments to investigate violations over the past twenty years by the operator of the pipeline serving the West Pico drill site and levy all appropriate fines, including any potential accrued interest on fines for past violations, within 60 days.

“This pipeline runs counter to our broader goals as a city and as a state to move away from fossil fuels and towards a shared green sustainable future,” said Westside Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, who represents the 55th District. “When will we all have the opportunity to thrive, we all have the opportunity to drink clean water, breathe fresh air, and live to our full life expectancy,”

He added, “I want to commend the chair [Yaroslavsky] and Councilmember McCosker for their work in identifying the gaps in this pipeline and the need to look at these agreements and the need to look at the fines and fees and citations that have been avoided all this time. And make sure that the city and the residents of the city and — in particular — the residents in proximity to this pipeline are heard. They have been asking for us to hear them for far too long.”

Photo obtained from Google Maps