Action of the Month - April: Phase Out Oil Drilling in LB

  • Posted on 4 April 2022
  • By Everette Phillips, Communications Chair

If you take only one action to save the planet this April, start with this...

In April, if you only do one thing, please add your name to the list of supporters encouraging Long Beach to join Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles to ban new drilling and phase out existing drilling.

This new campaign needs your support. Our experience is that when a campaign starts it needs extra effort to get to 50% of its goal, some effort to get to 80% and then often it is easier to get the general public to embrace a campaign that seems to have broad support.
 
Why This Matters
 
For decades, Long Beach’s oil industry has been given free rein to drill for health-harming fossil fuels in the center of our communities. There are oil wells in our backyards, on school campuses, and next to our hospitals. Long Beach residents living near oil wells are exposed to carcinogenic chemicals, asthma attack-inducing emissions, and the threat of catastrophic accidents or explosions.
 
Los Angeles County and Los Angeles City have both voted to ban new oil drilling and phase out existing oil drilling. It’s far past time for Long Beach to follow suit and establish rules to protect public health from oil extraction. Our leaders must commit to real solutions that protect residents' health, create pathways for workers to transition into the work of decommissioning these sites, transition workers into dignified family-supporting jobs and end this extractive practice once and for all. It’s time for bold action to transition away from fossil fuels in Long Beach!
 
Right now, Long Beach decision-makers have the opportunity to proactively work towards mitigating the climate crisis by phasing out oil drilling citywide. In the next couple of weeks, a measure could go in front of the Long Beach City Council to determine whether Long Beach will follow LA County’s lead by (1) declaring oil drilling a non-conforming land use and (2) establishing a 5-year phase-out period for all drilling.
 

 

Blog Category: 
News
Conservation
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Blog Tags: 
oil drilling

Comments

Joanne Catey (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 6:13pm

Please stop offshore drilling it’s risky it contains our waters and kills wildlife and contaminates are beaches impacting tourism and many businesses in the area

Teresa P (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 6:14pm

Please do whatever you can to phase out all oil drilling.

Rob Seltzer (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 6:20pm

Please pass the initiative to do a 5 year phase out banning oil drilling

diane hart (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 6:34pm

thank you in advance for banning oil drilling

Gail Noon (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 6:49pm

STOP!!!!......any & all (old & new) oil drilling!!!!

Wade Thoma (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 7:21pm

Please phase out drilling in Long Beach as LA has done!

Victoria Williams (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 7:51pm

Drilling ruins the marshlands Oil spills damage the beach & wildlife Oil rigs are. eyesores in residential communities

Tristan Dunker (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 8:05pm

It's imperative that we stop drilling for fossil fuels now amid to aid in slowing the climate crisis. It is also a blight on the community's health, waste of valuable land, and old technology that is holding us back from the future. Please stop the drilling of oil in Long Beach.

Betty Turtjedove (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 8:07pm

Fossil fuels are the filthiest energy source on Earth, and the cause of so much death, war, hatred and destruction - not to mention altering our atmosphere and oceans to the point we're poisoning all other life in the world. WE NEED TO FIND CLEAN SOURCES OF ENERGY, or there's no point to living on a planet that we've killed and will kill us too. Greed and laziness will be the death of us, and by "us" I mean all Earth's living things. We have to start NOW on ratcheting back and eliminating this poisonous practice.

Michelle Geil (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 8:32pm

Please vote to ban oil drilling and phase it out now. We have no time to waste!

Jerry Tobe (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 9:13pm

Dear Long Beach decision-makers, There is a large body of evidence that oil / gas operations within a half mile of human activity and even great distances down wind increases death, disabilities, health costs, and production loses. I doubt the true costs of those things can be quantified in any meaningful way, especially in terms of a comparison to the revenue Long Beach receives from oil / gas operations. The cost, especially in terms of human life and your duty to protect Long Beach citizens, seem to outweigh the benefits. May you do ONLY that which is truly best for the vast majority of people living in Long Beach and cause those people as little harm as humanly possible. Thank you for reading my comments and prayer.

Masako Okamoto (not verified)

April 4, 2022 - 10:46pm

Let’s recognize the vast health problems that oil-drilling causes for these residents, as well as the geologic ramifications down the road. It’s time to transition to other forms of energy production, if it’s feasible to produce enough to replace our current dependence on fossil fuels,

Elaine Ybarra (not verified)

April 5, 2022 - 12:20am

I really hope Long Beach is going to stay away from oil drilling and harming our planet. My daughter goes to LBSU and she’s doing her part by biking and walking . She will not using one drop of oil . Same with her family we have changed our lifestyle to preserve the future generations and we hope the City of Long Beach does the same !!

Steven Fogelson (not verified)

April 5, 2022 - 10:44am

Please do the right thing for all of our health and the health of the planet by (1) declaring oil drilling a non-conforming land use and (2) establishing a 5-year phase-out period for all drilling. Thank you

Ann Cantrell (not verified)

April 5, 2022 - 10:54am

Please follow Culver City and LA County's lead and stop new oil drilling now! And please make this retroactive to apply to the 120 new wells and pipeline you already approved for the Los Cerritos Wetlands.

Melinda Cotton (not verified)

April 5, 2022 - 11:14am

The Long Beach City Council should follow LA County’s lead by (1) declaring oil drilling a non-conforming land use and (2) establishing a 5-year phase-out period for all drilling. The Long Beach Sustainability Commission voted that the City should get rid of Oil Drilling. Long Beach residents living near oil wells are exposed to carcinogenic chemicals, asthma attack-inducing emissions, and the threat of catastrophic accidents or explosions. The City and LA County should help halt Climate Change, which is advancing much too rapidly due to continued reliance on oil, gas, coal etc.

Mary Edgar (not verified)

April 5, 2022 - 9:47pm

I support declaring oil drilling a non-conforming land use and support a five year period to phase it out. Thank you for considering my thoughts.

Jane Nachazel-Ruck (not verified)

April 6, 2022 - 4:18pm

Please join Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles in banning new oil drilling and phase out existing drilling. We need to move toward sustainable energy with all our resources and all due speed.

Barry C Nicholls (not verified)

April 6, 2022 - 4:37pm

We simply are at a time when new oil infrastructure is not in our world's best interest . This money and development should be directed to conservation or renewable energy. projects . We don't have time to wait . Leave it in the ground is demanded by our current climate crisis

Elliot Gonzales (not verified)

April 7, 2022 - 10:00am

I am a Long Beach resident requesting the city look into putting a band on you oil drilling. For decades the city has known that oil and gas pollution causes global warming increases rate of asthma and cancer in our population. Yet very few of the elected officials have had courage to take on this industry citing financial loss that's the reason why they will not stand up to a cancer causing industry in the community. This is permitted a sacrifice zone where the people who are closest to oil and gases severe impacts are maybe human sacrifice for an industry that is a threat to all life on earth. It is time for the city council to have courage. Leadership is about having courage. Speak up for the future speak up for your own City speak up for the residents of your city with courage in your heart with love for the children.

Janice Sampson (not verified)

April 7, 2022 - 4:56pm

I am against any new oil drilling in Long Beach. We need to be more focused on cleaning up our environment and stopping all the polluting projects. New projects should move forward with clean air and water and land as the focus. Thank you.

Julie S. Jacobson (not verified)

April 9, 2022 - 5:41am

I support removing oil wells from our neighborhoods

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