L.A. Council Backs Call for Drilling Study : Environment: The proposal requests that Inglewood not allow oil exploration at the cemetery site until a full review is conducted.

Inglewood and Los Angeles residents trying to overturn an Inglewood City Council’s ruling to allow exploratory oil drilling in a cemetery near the border of the two cities got a boost Wednesday from the Los Angeles City Council.

The council unanimously approved a proposal by Councilwoman Ruth Galanter requesting that Inglewood not allow any drilling in the Inglewood Park Cemetery until a full environmental study is done. Galanter’s district includes neighborhoods close to the drilling site.

The council also authorized the Los Angeles city attorney’s office to join any pending litigation against the oil-drilling proposal in order to “protect the health and well-being of the residents of the city of Los Angeles.”

By its action, Galanter said, the council “is trying to get (Inglewood officials’) attention. This is an attempt to tell Inglewood to take this matter seriously and do the right thing.”

The correct action would be to have an environmental impact study thoroughly examine the possible effects of the oil drilling, Galanter said.

Inglewood officials said Wednesday afternoon that they had not yet received a copy of the Los Angeles proposal and therefore would not comment on it.

The Inglewood Council voted last fall to permit exploratory drilling after a series of public hearings.

The plans by Noble Oil Co. of Pasadena to search for oil on a 1.1-acre site on the eastern edge of the 340-acre cemetery would help the financially strapped city if it were successful. The city would receive 22 cents for every barrel of oil pumped, which could mean hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year in revenue, according to a Planning Department report.

Residents have complained about possible environmental impacts from drilling, such as noise and truck traffic. Other have voiced concerns that any drilling along the Inglewood-Newport Fault might cause an earthquake. And some have said they are afraid that drilling might cause gas explosions.

Even as the Inglewood council approved the exploratory drilling, it did not reject the notion that an environmental study might be needed at some point.

“The council heard pros and cons on the matter, then voted to allow exploratory drilling. If oil was hit and there was some talk of needing 50 sites, then an EIR would be approved,” said Truman Jacques, the city’s public information officer.

Galanter said she had become involved after Los Angeles residents who live near the cemetery contacted her with their concerns about the proposed drilling.

Residents also joined forces with the Coalition Against The Pipeline, a Los Angeles-based community group that has opposed construction of a crude-oil pipeline that would pass through portions of Los Angeles. They filed a motion in Los Angeles Superior Court last month asking that the exploratory drilling, which has not yet begun, be prohibited. That motion is scheduled to be heard in a downtown courtroom Aug. 6.

Not all of the nearby residents have opposed drilling. Some of the residents, who have leased their mineral rights to the oil company, made it clear during the fall hearings that they want the drilling to start.