15:00 | 02.04.2010
Greenberg Glusker Environmental Litigation Team Wins Court Affirmation of Culver City Moratorium on New Oil Well Drilling by PXP
Greenberg Glusker today announced that the Los Angeles Superior Court
has upheld the right of its client, the City of Culver City, California,
to regulate expansion and intensification of new oil well drilling in
order to protect its residents. In an order issued March 26, 2010, Judge
James Chalfant rejected a challenge by an oil company, Plains
Exploration & Production Company (PXP), which sought a writ of mandate
invalidating the City’s moratorium on new drilling. The City had issued
the temporary ban to allow it time to develop proper regulations for new
drilling to address health issues, including concerns arising out of
residents’ reports of noxious fumes originating from drilling in the
Inglewood oil field in 2006.
Denying the writ of mandate, the court ruled that, despite an 85-year
history of oil field drilling in the Baldwin Hills area, the energy
company does not have an “absolute right to drill” and the City “remains
free to condition or even refuse to grant new drilling permits.” Culver
City’s population has increased dramatically since oil drilling began
there.
“By ruling that cities can do more to protect their citizens than just
enforce fire and building regulations, the Court strengthened Culver
City’s ability to balance the needs of all its constituents – residents,
leaseholders, and landowners,” said Garrett
L. Hanken, the Greenberg Glusker Partner who was lead trial counsel
for the City. Hanken’s extensive experience in environmental and land
use litigation includes resolving politically sensitive disputes among
real estate developers, government entities and regulatory authorities,
and local residents.
Other Greenberg Glusker attorneys who participated in the mandate
proceeding include David
Cranston, who chairs the Firm’s Environmental
Group and Climate
Change & Sustainability Group, Christopher
Foster, Sedina
L. Banks and Jenna
Guggenheim.
Cranston is lead counsel for Culver City in an upcoming related
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenge to the
environmental impact report (EIR) certified by Los Angeles County in
connection with PXP’s plans for new drilling in the portion of the oil
field within the County’s jurisdiction. The matter is scheduled for
trial on April 5, 2010, and will also be heard by Judge Chalfant. Culver
City is joined in the lawsuit by several community activist groups, Community
Health Councils, Inc., National
Resources Defense Council, Citizens Coalition For a Safe Community,
and Concerned
Citizens of South Central Los Angeles.
“The issues involved in the Culver City lawsuits – vested rights, old
uses versus new urbanization, conflicts between property rights and
environmental, health, and safety concerns – are tensions facing many
cities today. Greenberg Glusker’s Environmental Group plays a leading
role in these cases that are determining the future quality of life in
local communities,” said Greenberg Glusker Managing Partner Norman
H. Levine. “We congratulate the entire Greenberg Glusker team for
this significant victory.”
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