Background

An April 2017 motion from City of Los Angeles council member Wesson directed the Petroleum Administrator of the City of Los Angeles, CA to work with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and other agencies to assess the health effects of oil and gas production in the City of Los Angeles.

Experts at PSE Healthy Energy were retained by the Office of Petroleum and Natural Gas Administration and Safety (OPNGAS) in the City of Los Angeles to evaluate the human health hazards, risks and impacts of oil and gas development. This resulted in two technical reports:

(1)  a review of the peer-reviewed literature on oil and gas and human health, calibrated to the City of Los Angeles context and

(2) a hazard assessment of chemical use at oil and gas development sites in the City of Los Angeles and the South Coast Air Quality Management District more broadly.

These reports were commissioned to assist the City of Los Angeles Petroleum Administrator to inform the Los Angeles City Council in their decision-making regarding possible policy actions to reduce the risk of oil and gas development within the City of Los Angeles.