Editor’s Note: Karyme Ortiz Martinez is a local high school student contributing to Dímelo and Sustainability Sin Fronteras.
For years, Andrew Valencia drove past a tall green barrier in his West Adams neighborhood without giving it much thought. It looked like any other fenced-off property on the block. Only later did he learn that active oil wells were operating behind it within walking distance of homes, schools, and retirement facilities.
Known as the Murphy Site, this oil drilling facility located at 2126 West Adams Boulevard in South Los Angeles has been active since the early 1960s. It is one of the several urban oil sites that have operated near homes and schools in the area, including the now-closed AllenCo drilling site.
On February 28, 2023, the Los Angeles Office of Zoning Administration issued a legally binding determination imposing more than 30 new conditions on continued operations at the site. These conditions require the operator to implement additional oversight measures, including enclosing equipment with vapor-recovery measures to reduce odor and noise and increase monitoring and regulatory reporting. The ruling marks one of the city’s strongest efforts to address health concerns surrounding neighborhood oil drilling in South Los Angeles.
Down the street from the site, elementary school children walk hand in hand with their parents on their way to 24th Street Elementary School. Nearby, middle school students attend Crown Preparatory Academy. At the same time, older teens fill classrooms at Math and Science College Preparatory High School, placing children of every age within blocks of constant industrial activity. Just beyond them, a retirement home houses people who spend their later years breathing the same air.
“In areas such as South Los Angeles, many sites are open-air and rely on diesel equipment, which increases potential exposure and contamination for nearby residents,” said Jill Johnston, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at UC Irvine. Her work centers on partnering with residents to identify pollution sources and understand how exposure affects health.
Diesel-powered machinery releases exhaust into the surrounding air, compounding the pollution residents already breathe in. Over time, concerns about health and environmental impacts prompted residents to organize and push for stronger safety rules. Johnston’s research has found that people living near oil drilling sites experience higher rates of wheezing, chronic coughing, and reduced lung function.
“We see patterns in Los Angeles and across research nationwide that show an association between living near oil and gas extraction sites and respiratory health among nearby residents,” said Johnston. “In Los Angeles, many oil wells have been operating for 40 to 60 years, meaning residents in these communities may have been exposed for most of their lives.”
To check for oil drilling sites near you, click here. Enter your address or postal code, click “Convert Address”, and then select “Check Distance.”
More than a century later, drilling infrastructure remains embedded in residential neighborhoods across the city, placing industrial activities alongside homes, schools, and senior housing.
Industrial oil drilling in the Los Angeles area began in 1892, when prospectors Edward L. Doheny and Charles A. Canfield struck oil in what became the Los Angeles City Oil Field. Doheny later became a prominent philanthropist and donated millions to the University of Southern California, where the campus’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library now bears his name.
While the Murphy Site remains under increased regulatory oversight, years of sustained community organizing, youth-led advocacy, door-to-door health outreach and university-backed environmental health research have already produced concrete outcomes elsewhere in South Los Angeles.
The AllenCo drilling site in University Park sustained community complaints about odor and health impacts that led to state and federal intervention.
In 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency temporarily shut down the facility after inspectors reported experiencing symptoms during an on-site visit. The California Geologic Energy Management Division, or CalGEM, ordered the wells at the AllenCo site to be plugged and abandoned.
The order made the shutdown official under state law. In February 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that 21 wells at the AllenCo site had been permanently plugged and sealed, marking the end of oil production at the facility and part of California’s broader efforts to protect public health near homes, schools and medical facilities.
Serrano has lived in South Los Angeles since 2002, near the AllenCo drilling site, and began organizing in 2008 by knocking on doors in the residential blocks surrounding the drilling site to speak with families about recurring health concerns.
At first, many residents were hesitant or unsure.
However, once conversations emerged, similar health complaints started to surface across multiple households. “Empezaba con cosas comunes, dolores de cabeza, mareos, problemas para dormir, sangrados de nariz, especialmente cerca de las escuelas,” [It started with common things, headaches, dizziness, trouble sleeping, nosebleeds, especially near the schools] Serrano said. Hearing these same health issues span across generations made it extremely obvious; this was not a coincidence but a direct consequence.
One of the most damaging barriers Serrano identified was a lack of awareness among nearby residents, many of whom did not realize oil wells were operating behind the barrier.
Andrew Valencia, who has lived near the site for over a decade, said he has experienced “some headaches and some slight breathing problems” but never connected those symptoms to oil drilling because he didn’t know the site was there. “We didn’t know it could be connected to that because we didn’t really know about it,” he said. “But now that I do kind of know about it, it kind of makes sense.”
The Murphy Site was hidden behind a large green barrier, allowing industrial activity to blend into the surrounding environment. Serrano said language barriers further deepened this neglect; Spanish-speaking residents often struggled to report odors or air quality concerns. “No había suficiente representación para personas que hablan español. Yo llamaba y llamaba, y me decían que iban a regresar la llamada con alguien que hablara español, pero eso casi nunca pasaba,” [There wasn’t enough representation for Spanish-speaking people. I would call and call, and they would say they would return the call with someone who spoke Spanish, but that almost never happened] she said.
Requests for help in Spanish were frequently unanswered, and when officials did respond, they arrived only after the odor had disappeared. Serrano expressed, “O mandaban a alguien después, ya cuando el olor se había ido. Entonces, cuando llegaban, decían que no había nada, nada que investigar.” [Or they would send someone later, after the smell had already gone away. When they arrived, they would say there was nothing there, nothing to investigate.] Delays meant residents continued living near the site without immediate investigation of reported odors.
These lived experiences reflect broader patterns identified in Johnston’s research. Oil drilling sites have been placed disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color due to historical redlining and intentional disinvestment.
Johnston identifies this pattern as environmental racism, explaining that “communities that were intentionally divested are where we now see patterns of environmental racism.”
She added that oil wells in higher-income neighborhoods are often enclosed. “In some communities, wells are fully enclosed and electrified, which reduces noise and local emissions,” Johnston explained. She contrasted that with sites in South Los Angeles that operate in open air, where diesel-powered equipment and less protective infrastructure increase the potential for nearby residents to experience odor and air pollutants.
Despite these injustices, both Johnston and Serrano demonstrate that sustained advocacy can move beyond protest and into policy. Johnston’s research has informed broader policy discussions surrounding neighborhood oil drilling, including California’s Senate Bill 1137, which established a 3,200-foot buffer between new oil wells and communities, aiming to limit health risks associated with close proximity to extractions.
That policy is now facing federal opposition. In January 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration filed a lawsuit seeking to block California’s 3,200-foot setback law, arguing it conflicts with federal oil and gas leasing authority.
“This is yet another unconstitutional and radical policy from Gavin Newsom that threatens our country’s energy independence and makes energy more expensive for the American people,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated. Leaders and environmental justice advocates argue that the law is grounded in research and connecting oil well proximity to respiratory and other health risks. The lawsuit remains ongoing, placing California’s buffer protections and the future of neighborhood drilling restrictions at the center of broader legal disputes.
The new conditions placed on the Murphy Site mark a meaningful victory, but they do not signal the end of environmental exposure in South Los Angeles. Hundreds of oil wells remain active across neighborhoods like Wilmington and near the Inglewood Oil Fields, many still concentrated in low-income communities.
The permanent plugging of wells at AllenCo and the passage of California’s 3200-foot buffer setback law mark measurable shifts in how neighborhood oil production is governed. Yet drilling infrastructure still operates across South Los Angeles, and the state’s buffer protections are now being contested in court.
The green walls may still stand, but the silence around them no longer does. What was once hidden in plain sight is now something the community refuses to ignore. For residents like Valencia and Serrano, the fight over neighborhood drilling is no longer just about what happened in the past, but what will happen next. Across South Los Angeles, some drilling sites may remain, but the community is determined to keep digging for answers.