A ban on new oil and gas wells, fracking, and the reactivation of old wells will go before La Habra Heights voters in March, following Thursday’s vote by the city council. The council’s approval of the new ballot measure came just three days after City Manager Shauna Clark’s announcement that the measure had garnered 396 valid signatures—19 more than needed to qualify for the ballot.
“We’ve made a huge step,” said Heights Oil Watch president Mike Hughes, who submitted the signatures. While the group was given 6 months to collect the signatures, they gathered the required amount in just a week, he boasted. “If this doesn’t send a message to our City Council as to what the citizens of this community want, then how long would it take to get enough signatures for a recall?”
Despite Thursday’s approval, most of the council members took the time to express their reservations about the measure. Four out of five members said they oppose the initiative, with Mayor Brian Bergman saying he would he writing the argument against it.
“I think the initiative is written much too broadly and includes too many items that are all together in an all or nothing format,” said Council Member Kyle Miller.
Both Miller and Mayor Bergman are concerned that the city would be forced to spend swaths of cash defending the measure if it passes. That’s because the initiative could end up banning existing oil drilling in the city by Occidental Petroleum Corp., which would surely file a lawsuit in return. Hughes, however, said Occidental’s existing oil operations would continue as planned.
“It places common sense restrictions on oil and gas land uses in the city,” Hughes insisted.
Council Member Roy Francis was the only member not to take a position. Francis says he is awaiting additional information.
Read more about the ballot measure here.