Baldwin Hills CSD

The Baldwin Hills community is a diverse and dynamic mix of cultures and lifestyles, residences, open space, and businesses. We are also home to precious and scarce minerals such as the oil and natural gas resources that have helped fuel our lifestyle and strengthen our local economy since their first discovery in 1924.

We took the proactive step of voluntarily seeking an independent environmental review and greater regulation of our operations by asking the County of Los Angeles to create the Community Standards District (CSD), an enhanced set of oil and natural gas regulations and standards designed specifically for Baldwin Hills and surrounding communities. The CSD was developed over a period of more than 22 months, comprising detailed environmental review of the surrounding communities’ sight, sound, smell and safety concerns, over a dozen community meetings and hearings, and unprecedented review and public input. The CSD was adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on October 28, 2008. The Community Standards District is the most stringent set of regulations for any onshore oil field in California.

EIR (view document)

In 2008 an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) covering the Inglewood Oil Field and proposed regulations were issued by the County of Los Angeles. The EIR was the first ever comprehensive environmental analysis of an established oil field within the County of Los Angeles and the first ever used for the establishment of a Community Standards District (CSD). Throughout the course of the development of the EIR and CSD no deepening of existing wells occurred and no new wells were drilled after June 2007.

The EIR was developed with three main goals:

Provide detailed information about current and future operations at the Inglewood Oil Field.
Determine potential environmental impacts that could result from future oil field development activities.
Determine if the proposed CSD had the necessary development standards, operating requirements, and procedures to mitigate potential environmental impacts of future oil field development activities.

CSD (view document)

Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP) and other landowners took the proactive step of voluntarily seeking an independent environmental review and greater regulation of our operations by asking the County of Los Angeles to create the Community Standards District (CSD), an enhanced set of oil and natural gas regulations and standards designed specifically for Baldwin Hills and surrounding communities. The CSD was adopted by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on October 28, 2008.
With PXP’s award winning commitment to safety and environmental excellence, industry-leading operational expertise, and collaborative approach to working with regulatory agencies, they have achieved great success in challenging technical and regulatory environments. PXP’s commitment to planning, assessing and improving the quality of life in and around the facility is demonstrated through the initiation of, and compliance with, the CSD’s rigorous requirements.

Key provisions include:

Community Advisory Panel (CAP) – Designed to enhance communication between community representatives, the county, and our company.
Website and Annual Newsletter – Designed to provide the public updated information on oil field operations.
Ombudsperson – New position dedicated to responding to the public’s questions and concerns related to the oil field operations.
Landscaping Plan (Sight) – Designed to create a visual screening along the outer boundary of the CSD and along public streets that run through the oil field.
Quiet Mode Plan (Sound) – Identifies methods to prevent, reduce, or mitigate the noise generated by drilling at night.
Air Monitoring Plan (Smell) – Requires installations of automatic alarms to detect if odorous natural gases exceed CSD thresholds.
Community Alert Notification System (Safety) – Automatic notification system in the event of an emergency related to operations.
Annual Drilling Plan – Identifies future oil field drilling activity and enhances the public’s awareness of future planned activities.