Tuesday's vote decides LA's oil future — here's your script. | The Groundswell

My GARMI nerds! Today you have a chance to directly be a part of the Groundswell for a better future, because something very important is happening right around the corner for those of us who live in LA: This coming Tuesday, June 23, LA's City Council will vote on whether to support an ordinance to phase out oil drilling in the City of Los Angeles. This is huge, because — as we discussed in a past Groundswell — LA is the biggest urban oilfield in the country.

I am joining STAND-L.A., a coalition of frontline communities and environmental justice groups who’ve been working for over a decade to end oil drilling in LA, in telling my Council member to vote to support the ordinance. And I would be so freakin’ proud if every LA-based GARMI gremlin did the same. Here’s everything you need to know to play your role in a fossil-free future for this gorgeous city many of us call home.

First: the backstory. Then: the exact script you can use to add your public comment before by Monday, in time for Tuesday’s vote. This is actually important and your voice actually gets heard! This is also a great way to ignite or grow your civic engagement muscle. Let’s go.

LA, the biggest urban oilfield in America, has about 2,000 active oil wells, many hissing and cussing away right next to homes, schools, and parks. Wells abound everywhere: Inglewood Oil Field, the Harbor Freeway corridor, along Pico Boulevard, and even at the Beverly Center — all places we’ve all probably driven past without clocking what they actually are. The communities living closest to these toxic sites are disproportionately Black and Latine, and they’re the ones absorbing the headaches, the burning eyes, the asthma, and more — first and worst. That’s environmental racism at work.

But even if you’re not among these frontline communities here in the city, oil drilling is not “someone else’s” problem. We are all affected. Not only do an estimated 1 in 3 Angelenos live within a mile of an oil or gas well (the danger zone!), but no matter where you live, and even if the effects don’t land on everyone equally, this is everyone’s air, everyone’s water, everyone’s city.

Phasing out oil drilling in the nation’s biggest urban oilfield is a real and game-changing possibility, because we actually won this fight once already: LA passed a phaseout ordinance back in December 2022. But then oil companies sued and won, and the whole thing got revoked. But, there’s a reason I truly believe that a story isn’t over until the good guys win: last year, a State bill re-opened the door for local action, and so here we are again, ready to make history.

Coalitions like STAND-L.A., who for more than 10 years have been building visionary grassroots advocacy for a better future here in this city, have continued their bold work to push for a re-passage of the oil phaseout ordinance. Alongside the ordinance, which phases out oil drilling over the next 20 years, there are immediate demands to protect communities right now: STAND-L.A. is also pushing the City to revoke permits for two specific drill sites (Warren E&P Banning and E&B Murphy), and to use the City’s existing power to plug idle wells instead of leaving them to leak toxins into our communities forever. (Did you know that inactive wells do that?!)

And here’s the thing underneath the policy fight, y’all: it’s not just that oil drilling is harmful. It's that we're all spending our “one wild and precious life” (shoutout Mary Oliver) having to deal with this — toxins, bad air, sick kids — when we could instead be out here living deliciously. We’re living in a world of profit over people, but we can build a world that puts people over profit every damn time. This oil phaseout ordinance lays the foundation for that world:

I can’t emphasize enough how directly impactful it will be to participate in this moment. This vote is directly shaping what our LA neighborhoods will look like and feel like. It’s directly shaping our possibilities. Now is a great time to flex your civic muscle — the gains are going to be oh so worth it.

A huge shoutout to STAND-L.A. (follow them over at STANDStack by STAND-L.A.) for compiling all the information we could possibly need to be able to engage!

If you can join in person, then join STAND-LA at City Hall on June 23rd to give public comment in support of the ordinance! The energy will be magnetic, and the experience will leave a deep, motivating impression on you. Highly recommend!

When: Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at 10:00AM

Where: City Hall, 200 N Spring St, Los Angeles CA 90012

Transportation:

• By Metro, the Civic Center and Historic Broadway stops are close by

• If driving, you can park at the John Aiso lot at 101 Judge John Aiso St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Upon arrival:

• Go through security, tell them you are going to the Council meeting

• Take the elevator to the third floor, walk to the left of the atrium to the main Council chambers

• Sign up on kiosk to give public comment, sign up for Item #17

If you’re interested in attending in person, you can reach out to Emma Silber at esilber@psr-la.org.

This one is so easy, if you can’t make it in person.

STAND-L.A.’s instructions to submit written comment:

1. Go to https://cityclerk.lacity.org/publiccomment/

2. Add your name, email, and the Council File number: 17-0447-S2

3. In the text box write a message

4. Click submit

5. Check your email and click the box that says “Click here to validate”

I based this on STAND-L.A.’s sample script, and made sure to use the coalition’s specific calls to action (important to explicitly say you’re urging support of the oil phaseout ordinance and revocation of permits for the drills sites named below). I then took a second to let my mind wander the lush possibilities of an LA beyond Big Oil, because that’s the vision, and I want to remind our City Council that this is urgent as a way to react to stop harm but also as a way to proactively build healing and abundance. Here’s what I said:

Tuesday’s vote is one meeting in the series of meetings the ordinance needs to pass through over the next few months in order for it to become official. If — no, when — the ordinance fully passes and is made official, perhaps I’ll curate for us a celebratory in-person event. Your public comment confirmation is your ticket to that celebration. Email it, text it, DM it on Substack or IG, drop it in the comments — just send it over via whatever method is available to you! It’ll make my day, and it’ll inspire me to gather us a few months down the line when we can hopefully raise a cheers to a victory. LFG!

Want a deeper dive? Researching and writing the piece below blew my mind. I had no idea that oil is what made LA a boomtown long before the movies. Check out this December 2025 GARMI Groundswell to nerd out with me on LA history and archival photos, the hidden realities of LA’s fossil fuel industry, and the stories of the Angelenos building a better future right here in our city.

The GARMI Groundswell’s vision is to present commentary on current events that’s honest about the crises we’re experiencing, while also showcasing the ways in which more and more everyday people are rising up together.

This is a space for political literacy and civic empowerment. Because things are scary. And: how can we learn from, support, and join those who are doing something about it?

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