Once Reverend Eddie Anderson and his wife moved closer to their church, his asthma began to flare up. His deacon, Mike, who also had asthma, advised Anderson to use his inhaler more on days when the air quality made the 36-year-old church leader feel especially bad.

One night, a neighbor knocked on Anderson’s door.

Mike, who had contracted cancer and was using a breathing machine, wasn’t responding. He later died in Anderson’s arms.

Anderson and his wife later discovered that a strange fence in their neighborhood was hiding an active drilling site. Located behind a tall wall and greenery, the Murphy drill site in South Los Angeles has operated since the 1960s. It sits within walking distance of apartments, schools and a senior living center.

For residents living near urban oil operations across Los Angeles, stories like Anderson’s are common.

Despite California’s declining oil production, about one-third — or 3.23 million L.A. County residents — live within a mile of an active drilling site, according to a 2021 USC study. Residents have spent years reporting health concerns such as nosebleeds, asthmatic symptoms and pregnancy complications, all while attending public meetings in search of answers about when drilling operations near their homes may finally disappear.

While many sites have been closed due to community dissent, urban drilling continues to have a presence in L.A. In June, the L.A. City Council voted to move forward with an ordinance to phase out all oil wells over the next 20 years. Before being officially adopted, the Council will vote on it a second time later this summer.

Signage in front of the McCarty Memorial Christian Church where Reverend Eddie Anderson preaches. Photo: Bianca Machain

Past attempts to ban oil drilling in L.A. have been opposed by oil and gas companies, most recently in 2022. This time, however, the ordinance is supported by a 2024 state bill that reaffirmed city and council authority over oil and gas. More recently, the fire at a Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights renewed debates over the impacts of industrialized zones on nearby residents.

Beyond these developments, there is a question that many Angelenos face each day: What happens when you find out your next-door neighbor is an oil well? For the residents of South L.A., the answer lies in reaching out to the rest of the neighborhood.

Looking Without Seeing

When Sandy Serrano, 54, moved into her apartment in 2005, it felt like a fresh start for her and her family.

Just blocks away from USC, Serrano finally seemed to find a place where her family could settle down. Emigrating from Mexico City over two years ago wasn’t easy. Spending nights waiting for approval on her affordable housing applications felt never-ending.

After many nights of prayer, she got the call.

Her new home was beautiful. The apartment was freshly renovated. Then came the smell.

The odor of gas was distinct. Almost like something was left on the stove, Serrano recalled. She tried calling the gas company to get answers. They checked everything and concluded that there were no leaks in her apartment. No one could answer where the smell came from until she discovered it mere yards from her window.

Owned by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the AllenCo Energy site operated under several companies for nearly 50 years. Serrano said that she couldn’t have imagined the site was causing the odor in her apartment, nor that several health concerns were tied to living near an oil site.

Health complaints from the community led AllenCo to voluntarily suspend operations in 2013. However, years of restart attempts and legal delays postponed a complete closure of the site. The last oil well was sealed in February of this year, more than a decade after its closure.

An Uphill Battle

Despite the long process, South L.A. knows what it feels like to close down a site. Local nonprofits such as Redeemer Community Partnership and the environmental coalition Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling - Los Angeles have been organizing for years against urban oil drilling in L.A.

Both organizations took part in the closure of the Jefferson Drill Site, which operated for over 50 years and is located three feet away from the nearest home. Residents reported loud noises, fumes and vibrations from the site’s operations.

Years before its closure, a church service about the oil site led resident Jen Blue, 50, to a stark realization.

As residents discussed the Jefferson Park drilling site and the chemicals used in urban oil operations, Blue listened closely. She had moved to L.A. years earlier and fallen in love with its diversity, "real life and real neighbors, not the super glossy stereotype," she said. Until that moment, she knew little about the history of oil drilling in the neighborhoods around her.

Then she learned about endocrine-disrupting chemicals and studies examining potential reproductive health impacts.

A light bulb went off.

Blue thought about the two miscarriages she had experienced years earlier. The realization was emotional and intense.

Several people interviewed said their families experienced multiple miscarriages while living near the site. According to a 2025 review of multiple studies, maternal exposure to oil and gas extraction may increase the risk of miscarriage and reduce birth weight. The number of cases in such proximity to one another has led residents to wonder whether their stories are linked to nearby wells.

Although it has since been shut down, those who lived across the street from the site remember what it was like.

For 10 years, Arshdeep Ghuman’s family lived across the Jefferson site. While he doesn’t recall major health impacts, he remembers the constant noise. He said many residents eventually moved away, and in 2015, a site malfunction sprayed oil mist onto the street and cars outside his home. Afterward, black screens were installed around the site, blocking views from nearby homes.

For other residents, organizing against urban oil drills has become a lifelong battle. Sharis Flores, 22, a community organizing intern with RCP, has been involved with the organization since elementary school after her family discovered that the Jefferson site was a six-minute walk from their home. Her younger brother has asthma that doesn’t run in her family, she said, which increased her family’s concern.

Her experiences eventually motivated her to attend USC, where she studied environmental science.

After years of community protest and advocacy, the city issued stricter operating regulations in 2017. A year later, its operator, Sentinel Peak Resources, shut it down, citing the new regulations as a factor.

For advocates, transforming the former oil site has been the ultimate goal. While it’s rare for abandoned sites to be repurposed, the Jefferson Site is an exception. Since its closure, RCP and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust have been collaborating with nearby residents on the future of the site to transform the property into a park and affordable housing in 2028.

‘Your Zip Code Determines If You Can Breathe’

In response to an inquiry from a reporter citing the Zoning Administration’s report, E&B said the city “has no basis” to claim the site is a nuisance.

“E&B is in compliance with applicable rules and permit conditions,” the company’s response reads. “Where the City makes any assertions to the contrary, they are not based on the City’s own diligence or investigation but instead take at face value the assertions of an active group of complainants.”

E&B also provided an environmental report commissioned from Roux, an independent environmental and engineering consulting firm. The report found "no scientific evidence" that the site negatively affects nearby residents' health.

The company made a similar argument at the public hearing, while 10th District City Councilmember Heather Hutt and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell supported revoking E&B's permits.

Then came the residents.

For more than three hours, community members described hearing the site operate late into the night, experiencing asthmatic symptoms and fearing the greatest impacts would fall on children and older adults.

Several residents highlighted that there are different operating regulations depending on where a site is located within the county, which they said leads to inequality. For example, several oil sites in wealthier areas, such as Beverly Hills, are enclosed.

The Murphy Site is not enclosed and, according to the planning committee's staff report, lacks sufficient sound barriers. E&B maintains that zoning makes the construction of a sound wall “challenging” and that there have been third-party delays during the approval process.

At the end of the four-hour meeting, L.A. Zoning Administrator Jonathan Hershey said the future of the Murphy Site will be decided in October at the earliest.

LA County Oil Wells

Residents once again are told they have to wait.

“So everybody, I hate to say it, but please be patient on what the determination on this matter is going to be,” he said.

Until then, E&B and residents are left to plead their cases to the city. Anderson said he still hopes for justice.

“Regardless of where you live, every Angelino that is born here should be born with prosperity, born with a future, born with hope,” he said.

“And their ZIP code should not determine that.”