School Board candidate Robert Zirgulis spoke to the City Council on Monday regarding their decision to hold a moratorium on new oil drilling.
His comments:
“Well the City Council’s decision to put a moratorium on environmentally safe oil drilling is the continuing saga of ineptness hiding under the false mantra of “in the interest of public health and safety”. This ineptness is costing the taxpayers over $500,000 in frivolous litigation and legal fees with hundreds of thousands of dollars more in future legal fees while the City Council is looking at a $6-9 million deficit.
If it was really about a “public health and safety “ issue, then why doesn’t the city shut down the existing wells in Culver City that are pumping oil?
The city is collecting over $200,000 a year from existing oil wells in Culver City. Doesn’t it seem hypocritical that the city is collecting $200,000 then spending more than $500,000 to stop oil drilling?
The only people benefiting from all this are the lawyers. As we all know, when lawyers get involved in anything, they tend to exasperate a problem instead of trying to fix it. Instead of having two parties sit down at a table and communicate and iron out their differences, lawyers instruct their clients not to talk to the other side. The lawyers jack up the fees and are quite content to see litigation drag on.
There was a time when PXP got along with people in the Culver Crest community. I’m told by a Culver Crest member that PXP used to hold barbeques and was pretty open about discussing issues. That is until a couple of “knee jerk” anti-oil activists and their lawyers got involved.
The City Council has voted for a moratorium not because of health and safety issues but because of a vocal minority’s
unfounded opposition to environmentally safe oil drilling that is being regulated by the EPA, California Air Resource Board, Southern California Air Quality Management District and other regulatory agencies.
The City Council should end their frivolous litigation against PXP, stop wasting our taxpayer money, and give the savings to the Culver City Unified School District which is currently running a $3 million deficit.
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