Oil: Outcome of June 3, 2014 Hearing

Today LA City Council President Herb Wesson announced during the June 3, 2014 meeting of the South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission that he had brokered an agreement regarding two appeals about the LA City Planning Dept., approval that allows the oil company, Freeport McMoRan Oil & Gas (FMOG), to expand its operations of the Murphy oil site (Adams and Gramercy) into the enclosed "park" at 27th and St. Andrews south of the controlled drill site. The appeals noted that the approval was provided without appropriate and adequate review, lacked transparency and accountability, and ensured that there would be no public input.

The agreement between the appellants, FMOG, and the Planning Department, brokered by Council President Wesson, was accepted by the South LA Planning Commission:

1.  FMOG will submit a Plan Approval application to Planning by around mid-June for placement of a CEB in the "park" land noted above. 2.  FMOG and Plannning agreed that the application will receive a full Zoning Administration review inclusive of a pubic hearing. 3.  The Plan Approval application and Zoning Administration review will include a PUBLIC HEARING at which all concerned members of the public will be able to voice their concerns about project. NEXT STEPS:  We should expect the assignment of the new FMOG application to a Zoning Administrator with experience and expertise in oil related quasi-judicial conditional use cases who will perform a complete review of the file and the application, ensure a site inspection, and conduct a public hearing in which public comment will be presented. Information about the appeals, a timeline of events that led to the Planning Commission hearing and agreement as well as next steps can be found at the Jefferson Park United website:  http://jeffersonparkunited.org/category/site-topics/murphy-oil-site Please stay tuned for more information about the Plan Approval application and the Zoning Administration public hearing.