City Council extends wildfire emergency as residents urge action on oil "acid maintenance" and phase-out motion

The Los Angeles City Council voted to adopt an extension of the city's wildfire emergency, closing public comment and recording an 11-aye tally to pass the measure.

The vote came after roughly two hours of public comment during which dozens of speakers — many representing frontline environmental-justice organizations — asked the council to take additional steps to limit hazardous oil-field work known in the transcript as “acid maintenance.” Speakers repeatedly asked Councilmember (or office of) Kevin Nazarian to agendize council file 24-1580 (the “asset maintenance” motion) and for the council to move quickly to rescind the old oil phase-out ordinance and pass a new replacement.

The prolonged public record included testimony from local residents and organizers who described health and air-quality impacts they link to acidizing operations at nearby wells. Camille, introduced in public comment as “a PhD researcher and environmental justice fellow with Black Wind for Wellness,” told the council the city must “rescind the old phase out ordinance and pass a new ordinance as soon as possible” and asked that Nazarian “agendize the asset maintenance motion at the next Energy and Environment Committee hearing.”

Other speakers echoed that call. Emma Silver, Climate Justice Associate at Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, said acid maintenance projects have surged since the phase-out ordinance was overturned and that those projects “are highly toxic with lots of negative health impacts.” Jordan Hunter, a youth organizer from Wilmington, described community fear that residents had little or no notice about high-volume use of acids and asked the council to prioritize frontline residents’ health.

Organizers and community groups heard in the record included Stand LA, SCOPE LA, Communities for a Better Environment, Esperanza Community Housing, Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Black Women for Wellness, and Communities for a Better Environment’s grantees and partners. Speakers detailed requests that the Energy and Environment Committee (ENE) take up council file 24-1580 and that the council use its authority to protect public health while longer-term litigation and rulemaking proceed.

Council action on the wildfire emergency itself was procedural and procedurally unopposed at the time of the vote. The clerk opened the roll, the measure was tallied and the clerk recorded 11 ayes; the chair declared the measure adopted. The transcript does not show a recorded mover or seconder on the emergency measure in public proceedings.

The public record accompanying the vote makes clear that community groups expect additional council action beyond the emergency declaration: several speakers and organizations asked for explicit direction to the ENE committee to consider the asset-maintenance motion and to pursue a new oil-phase-out ordinance that would curtail acidizing and other high-risk oil-field activity inside the city.

Council members did not announce a specific timetable on the floor for agendizing the asset-maintenance motion during the recorded consideration of item 7. The measure extending the wildfire emergency was adopted; community representatives left the meeting asking the council to move quickly on separate regulatory measures related to local oil operations.

The council adopted the emergency measure with an 11-aye tally. Community groups indicated they will continue to press council offices and the Energy and Environment Committee to take the requested actions.

• Votes at a glance: Item 7 — Measure to continue/extend wildfire state of emergency: tally recorded as 11 ayes; outcome: adopted.