Local News in Brief : Conflict Issue in Oil Case
No Oil Inc., the Pacific Palisades group opposed to plans by the Occidental Petroleum Corp. to drill for oil in the Palisades, asked the Los Angeles city attorney’s office Thursday to disqualify itself from ruling on a conflict-of-interest issue that could impede a City Council bid to stop the drilling plan.
However, within an hour of receiving a letter from Robert Sulnick, president of No Oil, the assistant city attorney handling the matter, Anthony Alperin, said the city attorney’s office would not disqualify itself and would render an opinion “as expeditiously as possible.”
Sulnick suggested that since the city attorney’s office has supported Occidental in legal proceedings relating to the drilling, an independent attorney should be retained to decide whether Planning Commission President Daniel P. Garcia has a conflict of interest because his law firm has done work for Occidental.
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