City of los angeles general plan

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

Adopted September 2001

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Responsibility: departments of Building and Safety and *City

Planning.

Program 2: community plan identification of state designated

Mineral Resources Zone-2 sites and including of related resource

management provisions.

Responsibility: *Department of City Planning.

Policy 2: continue to encourage the reuse of sand and gravel products,

such as concrete, and of alternative materials use in order to reduce

the demand for extraction of natural sand and gravel.

Program: recycling of construction materials.

Responsibility: *Bureau of Sanitation and city agencies that

conduct or oversee construction projects.

For related information see:

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 "Infrastructure Systems Element" (landfills), Los Angeles City

General Plan (under preparation) and

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 Sun Valley and Sunland-Tujunga-Lake View Terrace-Shadow Hills-East La

Tuna Canyon community plan elements of the Los Angeles City General

Plan, Los Angeles Department of City Planning.

SECTION 19: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (FOSSIL FUELS): OIL

In 1769 a Spanish expedition led by Captain Gaspar de Portolá explored

the area now known as Los Angeles. The men discovered "pitch" bubbling

from the earth. The pitch was oil tar which still bubbles to the

surface in the vicinity of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and La

Brea Tar Pits. Native Indians used the tar as glue and a waterproofing

agency. Early settlers and ranchers mined it for a variety of purposes,

including for road surfacing. Oil (petroleum) extraction began in 1892

after E.L. Doheny discovered oil near what is now Glendale Boulevard

and Second Street. Petroleum extraction and refining continue to be

important industries in Los Angeles. Deposits (Exhibit A) underlie

portions of downtown and west Los Angeles, the harbor area and the

Santa Monica and San Pedro bays. Twenty producing oil fields lie wholly

or partially within the city. The Wilmington field is one of the

largest in the state. Its 1,332 wells produce 54,612 barrels of oil per

day (1996).

Since the early days of oil rigs and open gushers, technology has made

drilling, extraction and refining operations safer, more compatible

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CITY OF LOS ANGELES CONSERVATION ELEMENT

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with surrounding communities and more efficient. Slant drilling and

extraction from multiple lines can be accomplished from a single

relatively unobtrusive site. For decades the sites have been

camouflaged within buildings or behind walls that are designed to make

them look like houses, office buildings or other neighborhood

compatible structures. State and local regulations protect surrounding

neighborhoods from potential odors, noise, hazardous spills, explosions

and fires.

Resource protection/extraction regulation.

Federal. The federal government owns submerged lands extending seaward

beyond the three-mile state land limit. In 1981 the U.S. Congress began

issuing moratoria on expenditure of funds for processing leases within

designated offshore tracts (3-mile quadrants). This effectively

prohibited issuance of new oil drilling leases by the U.S. Department

of Interior within the tracts. In 1984, the moratorium was expanded to

include the Santa Monica Bay. All of the southern California shoreline

was added in 1985. The ban currently applies to all unleased tracts off

the entire west coast, the east coast and parts of Florida and Bristol

Bay in Alaska. It is renewed annually by Congress. Various bills were

under discussion (1999) to modify the Outer Continental Shelf Lands

Act, including modifying or lifting the moratorium.

President George Bush issued an executive order prohibiting the

Department of Interior from offering unleased tracts for lease in the

same general areas as the expenditure ban. The order expires in 2002.

Any President may change a presidential order.

State. The state has regulatory authority over inland lands and owns

tidelands and submerged lands extending seaward three miles from the

shoreline. Oil and gas deposits within the three-mile limit and on-

shore are under the authority of the California Department of

Conservation's Division of Oil and Gas. The division regulates

extraction of oil and gas, extraction operations and management of oil,

gas and geothermal reserves. Drilling permits and off-shore leases are

issued by the California Lands Commission.

Consolidated Coastal Sanctuary Act. To protect the coastal ecology, the

state legislature (1994) enacted the Consolidated California Coastal

Sanctuary Act (Public Resources Code 6240 et seq.). The act

consolidated previous coastal protection regulations that had

temporarily prohibited issuance of oil drilling leases along individual

sections of the California coast. It prohibits offshore drilling within

California coastal waters and lands, which were not already leased for

drilling. The ban has applied to the Santa Monica Bay since the 1950s.

Exceptions allow the commission to issue leases related to national

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emergencies and to any company that has a federal lease on adjoining

lands, if drilling within the leased three-mile federal quadrant could

result in draining an oil reserve that extends into state owned lands.

Coastal Act. The California Coastal Act initiative was approved by

state voters (1976) to protect the coastal environment and ensure

equitable public access to the beaches and ocean. It invests the

California Coastal Commission with the authority of overseeing the

coastal zone. The zone is depicted on maps on file with the commission

and the city. It extends seaward to the city's outer limit jurisdiction

and inland 1,000 yards from the mean high tide line, or further where

significant habitats, recreational areas or estuaries exist. The

commission establishes policies, standards and procedures for coastal

development. It reviews and issues permits for proposed development,

including drilling and extraction, within the zone. It can impose

conditions on projects or deny permits for projects that are not

consistent with the city's local coastal plans (community plans) or

that would harm or would interfere with public enjoyment of the coastal

environment.

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA requires

consideration of potential impacts (e.g., oil spills) of proposed land

development projects on the environment. For a project to proceed,

potentially negative impacts must be avoided or mitigated to a level of

insignificance.

City. For several decades the city has supported the ban on off-shore

oil drilling. Its position is due to concern about potential oil spills

that could damage the beaches and ecology of the bays. 

The city has regulatory authority over on-shore land use within its

borders, including issuance of drilling permits, protection of

underground water supplies (wells and aquifers), safety considerations

relative to hazardous materials management and construction of

facilities, consistent with state and federal law. The issue of safety

relative to hazardous materials management is addressed in the general

plan Safety Element.

The 'O' Oil Drilling supplemental use district provisions of the

Municipal Code (Section 13.01) were initially enacted in 1953. They

delineate the boundaries within which surface operations for drilling,

deepening or operation of an oil well or related facilities are

permitted, subject to conditions and requirements set forth in the code

and by a Department of City Planning zoning administrator, the Fire

Department and city's petroleum administrator of the Office of

Administrative and Research Services. The conditions protect

surrounding neighborhoods and the environment from potential impacts,

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