Environmental and community activists are petitioning Los Angeles to require an oil company to enclose a South L.A. drilling site in a building to protect neighbors, arguing that it has menaced nearby residents with loud noises, foul smells and glaring lights.
The petition, submitted Thursday by the environmental law firm Earthjustice on behalf of the South L.A. nonprofit Redeemer Community Partnership, calls on the city to hold a public hearing and ultimately to impose the new requirements on the Jefferson Boulevard site, which sits next to apartments in a densely populated neighborhood west of USC.