Why the Most Populous U.S. County Just Ended Oil and Gas Drilling
L.A. County's plan to phase out drilling comes after a years-long environmental justice movement focused on adverse health effects. Advocates hope it will be a model elsewhere.
Among the areas where drilling will end is the 1,000-acre Inglewood Oil Field.
Photographer: Citizens of the Planet/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Los Angeles County supervisors voted unanimously last week to phase out oil and gas drilling in unincorporated parts of the nation’s most populous county, in what advocates hailed as a victory in a years-long movement for environmental justice. But thousands of derricks within city limits are unaffected by the new ordinance, and advocates say the fight is ongoing, with hopes that the vote will be a model for other places.
“This decision is a huge deal because it can potentially impact a very large number of people,” says Rachel Morello-Frosch, an environmental health scientist at the University of Berkeley, “and can also influence a statewide conversation about the regulation of upstream oil and gas production in California.”