A Los Angeles city council member is calling for the closure of an oil-drilling site downtown, saying that it poses a health risk to hundreds of low-income and vulnerable residents in the area.
In a letter to the city's planning department this week, Kevin de León, whose district includes downtown L.A., cited reports that the drill site on Broadway near Pico Boulevard has"a troubling pattern" of skirting legal requirements, including injecting more than the allowable surface injection pressure into wells and refusing access to inspections.
De León said elevated methane levels were detected over the site last August and that Nasco Petroleum, which owns and operates the facility, never responded with the results of a required investigation into the matter with any proof of repair, mitigation efforts or test results. "We've set forth the motion and the process to shut this oil well down in Los Angeles," de León said Thursday, speaking at the drill site."It's the last one that's active in downtown Los Angeles."