After A Decade Of Organizing, Los Angeles Neighbors Won Their Fight To End City Oil Drilling.

After more than a decade of organizing, neighbors in Los Angeles have won a fight that many thought would never end, as the city has approved a plan to ban new oil and gas drilling and phase out existing wells over 20 years. The City Council voted 13 to 0 in October 2026, and Mayor Karen Bass signed the ordinance the following day, making Los Angeles the largest city in the nation to set an end date for oil drilling within its limits. The rule covers roughly 600 active and 1,200 idle oil wells, many of them in neighborhoods like South Los Angeles and Wilmington, where pump jacks sit near homes, schools, and parks. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said residents have been fighting for something pretty straightforward for more than a decade, which is that oil wells do not belong next to their homes, schools, and daycare centers.

The victory belongs to a coalition called STAND-L.A., short for Standing Together Against Neighborhood Drilling, which brought together neighbors, public health advocates, and environmental justice organizations. Their persistence mattered, because Los Angeles first passed a similar ordinance in 2022, an oil company sued, and a judge ruled in 2024 that state law blocked it, so the community went back to work and the city tried again with stronger state backing. Studies have linked living near active wells to respiratory problems, which is why residents say the change matters for the children and families who have lived beside the wells for years. Advocates say the work is not finished, since the phaseout will take time and the next goals include making sure companies properly close wells and clean up the sites, but for the neighbors who started this fight, Los Angeles now has an end date.

Source:http://legal-planet.org/2026/10/29/oil-drilling-has-no-place-in-our-cities/