South Bay : BACK IN THE RING
Macpherson Oil Co. might be down, but it’s not out of the fight.
For the past several years, the company has been battling a group of homeowners who have tried to stop it from drilling for oil in Hermosa Beach.
Last fall, the Stop Oil Coalition struck a major victory when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that the 1.3-acre project, which had been approved by the city, was too large to meet local zoning laws. The judge limited the project to one acre.
The company and the city appealed the court decision. They also sent the project back to the drawing board, redesigning it to fit within an acre.
The revised plan, although similar to its predecessor, must make new trips before the city’s Planning Commission, the City Council and the state’s Coastal Commission--an approval process that could take months or more.
Is the project worth the headaches? You bet, says company owner Don Macpherson Jr. He estimates there are 30 million barrels of black gold under the city and its beaches. . . .
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