Posted: July 29th, 2008

Resolution 3.01 - Omnibus Urban Greening Resolution.
This Resolution was Approved By the National Latino Congreso on September 8, 2006, and amended on July 19, 2008, to address keeping the Baldwin Hills Green and Clean for All for Generations to Come. The Amendments provide as follows:

WHEREAS: The Baldwin Hills in the historic heart of African-American Los Angeles will be a two-square mile park, the nation’s largest natural urban park in over 100 years. The Baldwin Hills Park will provide the diverse and park-poor region with much needed green space for recreation, conservation, education, and economic vitality.

WHEREAS: The Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance is ensuring that the Baldwin Hills are clean and green for all for generations to come by engaging, educating, and empowering the community. There have been active oil wells in the Baldwin Hills for over 80 years without any studies of the impact of the oil drilling on human health and the environment. Now, the oil field operator, Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP), proposes to expand operations and drill 1,000 new wells in the next twenty years – a new well every week. The Alliance has prepared a draft Community Standards District (zoning ordinance) to regulate oil drilling in the Baldwin Hills. The Alliance will also submit public comments on the draft environmental impact report (DEIR), which are currently due August 19, 2008. The Alliance’s draft Community Standards District and DEIR are available on the web at greaterbaldwinhillsalliance.org and baldwinhillsoil.org.

WHEREAS: The Alliance recognizes the pressure to rely more on domestic sources for crude oil in this climate of escalating prices, but this needs to be done in a clean, green, sustainable way—the way it is done in other communities. Residents are asking the County to create a Community Standards District that values the community’s well being, conservation and environmental goals more than a barrel of oil. The Alliance’s CSD represents a reasonable and prudent balance of private interests in short-term profit, and public interests in livability, sustainability, health, and the environment.

WHEREAS: The Alliance recommendations include:

• Eliminate potential health risks and environmental impacts associated with the oil field operation through consolidation
• Provide enforceable environmental and health protections including monitoring sanctions and penalties
• Provide for the clean up and eventual transition of the land to parkland consistent with the Baldwin Hills Park Master Plan
• Support residential living, open space, recreation, schools, critical habitats and improve the current aesthetics of the oil field
• Establish oversight from a multi-sector advisory committee including residents.

WHEREAS: Neighborhood groups, homeowners’ associations and community-based organizations compose the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance, which represents more than 50,000 households. The Alliance was convened by Community Health Councils and The City Project with technical support from the UCLA Department of Public Health to ensure community participation in the environmental review and zoning process.

THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED: The National Latino Congreso supports the work of the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance to keep the Baldwin Hills green and clean for all for generations to come, and supports the Alliance’s draft Community Standards District, and supports the recommendations of the Alliance, and urges the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to adopt a community standards district and environmental impact report consistent with the goals of the Alliance.