When Westside residents battled plans to step up production at an oil drilling facility on Pico Boulevard, they picketed outside the site and once brought children to a city hearing with signs pleading, “Don’t you care about us?”
Their fight ultimately went from City Hall to the courtroom and ended nearly two decades ago with a legal settlement meant to protect neighbors from noise and fumes.
That deal with the city and Breitburn Energy included a requirement meant to keep problems from recurring once the facility was renovated. There were supposed to be regular reviews by the city every five years after an initial study, a requirement that could allow the city to stiffen its rules for operating the oil site if needed.
That didn’t happen. City officials say that the operator didn’t take the steps to initiate such regular reviews around 2010 and 2015. And the city didn’t do them.
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