Eight hours and 40 minutes after the hardy County Regional Planning Commissioners took their decision-making seats in downtown Los Angeles at 9 o’clock this morning, they made their payoff move of the season:
Following what both parties agreed was two months worth of extraordinary probing, pushing and deliberating of esoteric and complicated environmental issues, the Commissioners arrived at the moment that some Culver City activists have been dreading since last spring.
Convinced that they have judiciously put in place historic regulatory safeguards for the hundreds of thousands of neighbors affected by drilling in the 2-mile wide Inglewood oilfield, the Planning Commissioners unanimously recommended certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report and adoption of the Community Standards District.
One last scene remains before the documents become law.
A week from Tuesday, on Oct. 21, the County Board of Supervisors, led by ready-to-retire Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, is expected to apply what many believe is, effectively, its rubber stamp on the two eagerly anticipated documents.
A Comeback
Simultaneously, the oil drilling company that well organized citizens groups, mainly the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance, have been chasing to make sure the rules are stringent and enforceable, is due to return to action following a lengthy layoff.
Plains, Exploration & Production Co., PXP, silent in the Baldwin Hills area field for 17 months, is e expected to end its recent self-imposed moratorium and resume drilling immediately.
A couple of years ago, PXP’s announced plan of substantially expanding drilling operations from low key to a higher note, triggered months of acute and torrid citizen activism.
Frustrating to some, the exact degree of PXP’s expansion intentions remains clouded even at this late hour.
Drilling can be an unpredictable pursuit, explained Steve Rusch, executive vice president of PXCP, and the face — or main villain — of the company in Los Angeles for a number of years.
Best Friend?
Hal Helsley, Chair of the Planning Commission and perhaps the most sympathetic appearing ally of the citizens’ groups, was the last holdout among the five voters, still unconvinced the panel had done all it could to protect residents.
But, he also could count the votes, and, following an apology to exasperated neighbors for the speeded-up approval process, he made the final score unanimous.
It did not take 8 hours and 40 minutes for the commissioners to make up their minds. The oil drilling matter was flipped to the rear seat of an unusually crowded all-day agenda. PXP vs. Culver City was shoehorned into the last 2 hours and 10 minutes.
By which time much of the crowd had left to return to their regular lives, the Commissioners were tired enough to nod off in their chairs, although none did, and the exhausted pregnant court reporter, probably the hardest working person in the Hall of Records today, needed a timeout in the final hour to rest the weary bones inside her fatigued fingers.
A Happy Warrior
At 20 minutes before 6 this early evening, the shiniest smile in the room was hanging out on the countenance of Mr. Rusch.
“This is a big first step,” he said, “one step from the end.”
The clinching move, he believed, was a shrewd strategic decision by County staffers to place dapper Jon Pierson, the main environmental consultant for the County, in the testimony chair after all citizen protestors had had their say.
Normally, he would have trestified in the beginning.
Mr. Rusch said Mr. Pierson’s comprehensive assessment of the extensive research and document implementation by him and his expert staff tipped the outcome in PXP’s favor.
By positioning Mr. Pierson behind the citizen testimony, he had a chance to fire volley after volley of powerhouse rebuttals at residents’ claims.
On the Other Side
Ken Kutcher, a co-leader of the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance who has compiled hours into the thousands in fighting for citizen influence, was not surprised, nor did he seem disappointed by the outcome.
The odds had been mountain-tall.
The game is not over yet, he said, eying the date at the County Board of Supervisors less than a fortnight away. He is hoping to have a few more suggestions included in the final documents.
He did not employ the concept of “triumph,” but he said, “We have come a long way.” He was smiling.