L.A. considers the rare closure of an active oil site in Jefferson Park

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred In a city that was built on oil and remains home to over 2,000 active wells, zoning officials are considering a first: shutting down an oil production site.Residents of the Jefferson Park neighborhood just south of the 10 Freeway have been fighting for more than decade to close the 32 closely-packed oil and gas wells at the Murphy drill site, run by Bakersfield-based E&B Natural Resources.

It has a history of air pollution violations running from before the current operator took over to this year.The city’s zoning administrator is now weighing whether to revoke the operator’s permit.

Momentum has been building toward phasing out oil in Los Angeles for years, but the city has never rescinded a permit before.“This is our opportunity.We have a small window,” said the Rev.

Eddie Anderson, senior pastor at the McCarty Memorial Christian Church nearby.He has firsthand experience, he says, with the health consequences of living next to an oil production site.

In 2020, he moved to Jefferson Park following the advice of his mentor, civil rights leader the Rev.James Lawson, to live closer to his congregation in the historically Black neighborhood, now majority Black and Latino.But soon “things started to get weird,” he said.

His asthma, which had been mild, became acute.His dog developed cancer.

His wife suffered a miscarriage.Then his neighbor, a deacon in his church, told him about a previous roommate who had died of cancer, and how he had recently been diagnosed himself.

After a second miscarriage, the couple started looking into the Murphy drill site, which they knew was two blocks away, and learned about the violations.They learned the oil extraction process often involves chemicals that can harm fertility or fetal health.“My wife asked, ‘Were we poisoned?’” said Anderson.

They l...