EXTEND PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR DRAFT EIR ON BALDWIN HILLS OIL FIELD CSD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
CONTACT: Eric Boyd (213) 745-6656 or Carlota Gutierrez (916) 651-4026
RIDLEY-THOMAS URGES BURKE TO EXTEND PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR DRAFT EIR ON BALDWIN HILLS OIL FIELD CSD
Senator to lead citizens, state agency reps on tour of PXP Oil Field
LOS ANGELES – Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles/Culver City) sent a letter to Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke on Monday, July 28, 2008 urging Burke and the Board of Supervisors to extend the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District (CSD).
The 60-day public comment period for the Draft EIR is set to expire on August 19. Ridley-Thomas made his formal request on behalf of area residents yesterday, after a series of weekend meetings with concerned constituents brought new and potentially relevant information to his attention. Representatives from community groups such as the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance (GBHA), Mujeres de la Tierra, and others have all petitioned Burke for additional time to review the 800-plus pages of the Draft EIR, to no avail. Talks with these groups and other individuals prompted the Senator’s action.
“My office has been working with citizens from the neighborhoods surrounding the PXP Oil Fields since July 2007, when the Empowerment Congress, the City Project and I partnered with the Baldwin Hills Conservancy to hold a Community Information Summit on the subject at West L.A. College,” Ridley-Thomas said. “That Summit anticipated a September or October 2007 release of a Draft EIR, pursuant to schedules released by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission. It seems reasonable to me that if the County’s own Planning Commission needed an additional nine months to produce the DEIR, the community deserves at least an additional 30 days to review it,” he concluded.
The extension request is one element of the Senator’s larger effort to identify and address health, environmental, geological, and other concerns in partnership with area residents. Senator Ridley-Thomas will tour the PXP Oil Field operations on Thursday, July 31 to examine up-close some of the key items listed in the DEIR. He will be accompanied by representatives from several of the state agencies responsible for the monitoring of oil drilling operations, as well as citizen representatives from some of the aforementioned community groups.
“I am determined to represent the community’s interests and pursue answers to their questions and concerns as aggressively as possible, which at this point in the DEIR review process requires my physical presence on the drilling site,” the Senator added. “I firmly believe that the ongoing education and development of a working relationship between the community, PXP, and government would be optimized not only by this tour, but by an extended DEIR review and public comment period. I will continue working toward that objective. Meanwhile, I look forward to sharing my findings from the site visit/tour with the community at large,” Ridley-Thomas added.
