Democrats block oil drilling in California city

Democrat run city bans oil drilling

Mouth-breathing Leftist residents say the evil oil

companies "get all the profits."

The Los Angeles area Carson City Council has slapped a ban on any new oil and gas development in the city for the next 45 days, effectively stalling a proposed Occidental Petroleum Corp. drilling project that is unpopular with residents.

The unanimous vote came late Tuesday night, after residents and environmental advocates spent two hours arguing in favor of the temporary ban. The city is in the midst of a comment period for a draft environmental impact report on the project, which seeks to install 200 new oil and gas drilling wells inside a 30-foot-high walled compound on a 6.5-acre site near Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The moratorium blocks the city from accepting any permit applications for drilling, redrilling or deepening of any oil or gas well reports the Daily Breeze.

“There are too many questions, too many concerns and possible bad consequences,” said Councilman Al Robles, who introduced the ordinance. “The questions and possible risks significantly outweigh the possible benefits. I like to go to Las Vegas and gamble but it’s always with my own money and at my own risk. I refuse to gamble with the health and well-being of the residents of Carson.”

Robles advanced the moratorium idea earlier this month in response to ongoing complaints from a vocal group of residents who believe their health and quality of life will be damaged if Occidental is allowed to develop the site over the Dominguez Oil Field.

Occidental has had two test wells there since 2011 and, using modern directional drilling methods, pulled enough oil from deep underground that the company believes it can generate 6,000 barrels of oil and 3 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day when peak production is reached. Though Occidental officials have repeatedly promised not to use aggressive extraction methods like fracking, residents continue to express distrust with the company.

“The oil companies have drilled there for 100 years, and now all the easy-to-get-out oil is gone and ‘Big Oil’ has to resort to riskier methods,” resident Glen White told the council Tuesday. “They get all the profits. We get all the risks. Their profits, our resources.”

Members of Washington D.C.-based Food & Water Watch, Communities for a Better Environment of Huntington Park, and the Palos Verdes-South Bay Sierra Club also asked the council to pass the ban. Last month, the Los Angeles City Council banned any use of controversial well-enhancement methods such as hydraulic fracturing, gravel packing and acidizing. Those aggressive oil-extraction tactics have been banned by several states already because of concerns about environmental risks such as earthquakes and chemical contamination of groundwater supplies.

Carson City Attorney Bill Wynder said he and other staff members will study the dangers of oil and gas extraction during the moratorium and return to the council with a recommendation on how to move forward.

The council could potentially extend the moratorium for another two years.

Killing California Jobs
Socialist Democrats are frightened to death that people might get real jobs in the oil industry that pay real money.  Real jobs make workers independent of the Leftist Cradle to Grave Welfare State.  The happy workers might buy a car, buy a home or maybe even vote Republican.  That cannot be allowed to happen.