Oil and Gas Drilling Ordinance

Following the Sept. 6, 2024 trial court ruling in Warren E&P, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, the City Council took action (Council File No. 17-0447-S2) to rescind the 2022 Oil and Gas Drilling Ordinance No. 187,709.

As a result of the rescission, Los Angeles City Planning’s Office of Zoning Administration is not implementing either the Zoning Administrator’s Interpretation dated October 4, 2023 nor ZA Memorandum No. 141 dated January 17, 2023 (see Rescission of Case No. ZA-2022-8997-ZAI-1A, ZA Memorandum No. 141 below).

On September 17, 2025, Los Angeles City Planning released an initial draft of the proposed Oil and Gas Drilling Ordinance (Ordinance), amending the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) to reinstate the previously adopted policy relative to oil and gas drilling activity, in response to the City Council instruction as well as an accompanying Fact Sheet outlining frequently asked questions and a summary of key provisions.

Since then, City Planning has taken significant steps to advance the Ordinance. In November 2025, a revised version of the proposed Ordinance was prepared for public review (see Exhibit A within the staff recommendation report).

The revised version of the proposed Ordinance, dated November 2025, includes 1) clarifying language to the proposed text in Sec. 3 and Sec. 17 of the Ordinance which amends Section 12.23 C.4(a)(5) of Chapter I and Section 12.5.4. of Division 12.5. of Article 12 of Chapter 1A of the LAMC, respectively, 2) correcting the amendment instruction citation found in the Sec. 12 of the Ordinance which amends Section 8.2.4. of Division 8.2. of Article 8 of Chapter 1A of the LAMC, 3) adding style and formatting clauses as the new Sec. 20 necessary to publish the Ordinance in Ch 1A, and 4) adding an urgency clause as the new Sec. 22 of the Ordinance.

Additionally, on November 26, 2025, a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) which analyzes potential impacts on the environment for the proposed Ordinance was released for a 30-day public comment period, which ended on December 29, 2025.

The staff recommendation report and revised version of the proposed Ordinance were heard by the City Planning Commission (CPC) on December 11, 2025. The CPC took action at the meeting to make a recommendation to the City Council to adopt the proposed Ordinance and accompanying environmental clearance.

On June 12, 2025, the OZA issued a new citywide Zoning Administrator’s Interpretation (ZAI) for Well Maintenance (Case No. ZA-2025-2976-ZAI) applicable to all oil well facilities with valid Zoning Administrator approvals. This ZAI requires discretionary review for all well maintenance projects pursuant to LAMC Section 13.01-H. Two appeals were filed on the ZAI. At its meeting of October 9, 2025, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission denied the appeals and adopted the Staff Recommendation Report as the Commission’s Report. The City Planning Commission’s Appeal Determination can be found at this following link, here.  For questions about oil well maintenance activities or active oil well operations, please contact the OZA at planning.oildrilling@lacity.org.

Documents

Oil Wells Dashboard and Online GIS Map Application
A data dashboard and online GIS map application is now available to the public. This data tool features information about active and idle oil wells in the City. The online GIS map application features several layers with the ability to filter for specific layers and information. Click here to access the web resource.

If you have any questions or would like to sign up for updates and/or provide feedback, please email planning.oildrilling@lacity.org or mail correspondence to:

Los Angeles City Planning Department Code Studies
Attention: Oil and Gas Drilling Ordinance
200 North Spring Street, Room 701 
Los Angeles, CA, 90012