Los Angeles, a city shaped by its oil industry with over 2,000 active wells, is now considering an unprecedented step: the outright closure of an active oil production site. The city's zoning administrator is weighing whether to revoke the permit for the Murphy drill site, located on West Adams Boulevard in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, just south of the 10 Freeway.
Residents have been pushing for the closure of the 32 oil and gas wells, operated by Bakersfield-based E&B Natural Resources, for more than ten years. The site has accumulated a history of air pollution violations, predating the current operator's takeover in 2019 and continuing to this year. While momentum has been building for years to phase out oil extraction in Los Angeles, the city has never before rescinded a permit for an active site.
"This is our opportunity. We have a small window," said the Rev. Eddie Anderson, senior pastor at the nearby McCarty Memorial Christian Church. Anderson moved to Jefferson Park in 2020 to be closer to his congregation in the historically Black and now majority Black and Latino neighborhood. He recounted how his mild asthma became acute after moving, his dog developed cancer, and his wife suffered two miscarriages. After learning about the site's violations and the chemicals involved in oil extraction, Anderson's wife questioned if they had been poisoned. They left the neighborhood for Mid City in 2024.
The land for the Murphy drill site is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, which leased it to oil developers starting in the 1960s after the family of railroad and oil tycoon Daniel Murphy donated it. In its peak in the 1970s, the site produced about 1,600 barrels of oil per day. That number has significantly decreased to approximately 240 barrels per day as of this summer.
Since E&B Natural Resources took over the lease in 2019, the neighborhood nonprofit Redeemer Community Partnership has tracked 54 violation notices and 19 other types of notices from various regulatory bodies, including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the state labor board, the state oil regulator, and the Los Angeles Fire Department. These included gas leaks, spraying substances to mask odors, and failure to maintain idle wells. In November 2025, contractors received violations for using prohibited equipment near three schools in the vicinity during a pipeline pressure test. In January 2025, methane was found gushing from a well valve.
E&B Natural Resources spokesperson Ted Cordova maintains that the company is following the rules. Cordova stated that the site provides local energy under strict environmental regulations, employs local contractors, and pays royalties to over 3,000 mineral rights owners. He also noted that the air quality notices represent routine oversight and do not amount to a "nuisance," the legal term the city zoning administrator is investigating. E&B disputes claims of 27 odor complaints and 67 videos of work outside permitted hours since 2024. The company also commissioned an independent report from Roux Associates, which Cordova said "found no evidence in the administrative record ... demonstrating that the site adversely affects public health."
However, research from the University of Southern California (USC) suggests otherwise. A 2021 study found that residents living closer to the Murphy wells or directly downwind had significantly lower lung function. A 2022 paper identified higher levels of toxic metals associated with crude oil in the nail clippings of people near the site. Jill Johnston, who led both USC studies, stated that independent scientific data can be crucial for moving towards health-protective policies, as community voices are often not enough.
Neighbors of the Murphy drill site include an AIDS Healthcare Foundation clinic, a convent, an affordable-housing complex, and a preschool for children with hearing loss. Residents, like Silvia Esparza, say that inspectors rarely arrive in time to witness their complaints of noxious odors and noisy deliveries. E&B is also nearly a year behind in complying with orders to enclose its operations with a 30-foot structure.
This consideration for closure comes as Los Angeles, like L.A. County, is making a second attempt to ban new drilling and phase out existing wells over the next two decades, following a 2022 court decision that struck down an earlier vote. Other sites have closed under community pressure, tighter regulations, or negotiated agreements, such as the nearby Allenco multiple well site and the Jefferson drill site. Councilmember Heather Hutt, who represents Jefferson Park, has called for the permit's revocation, noting that new state laws requiring buffer zones and proper plugging of idle wells have reset the relationship between communities and oil operators.
The city held a four-hour public hearing in July. The public comment period for individuals closed on September 25, while neighborhood councils have until October 5 to submit comments. E&B Natural Resources has until October 19 to respond to the city, after which the decision rests with the zoning administrator.