The Brief

One of Los Angeles’ most polluted stretches of land soon will be cleared for new development, and a full accounting of the ground’s degradation will be left largely to an oil company.

For almost 40 years in the middle of the 20th century, workers at an oil refinery with connected facilities in Wilmington and Carson buried truckloads of slop oil and acid sludge directly on site. Decades later, much of that waste still is in the soil and water table, state records show.

Phillips 66, which now owns the century-old refinery, will idle the plants by the end of the year. In some areas, the contaminated underground layer is more than 16 feet thick. Yet the only estimates for how much it will cost to tear down the refinery and clean up the fouled land is from Phillips 66, which blamed “market dynamics” for its closing.

“It is a huge problem that there is currently no disclosure requirement concerning the actual cost,” said Ann Alexander, an environmental policy consultant and principal at Devonshire Strategies. So much waste has accumulated under and around the refinery, it has formed a subterranean “lake of hydrocarbons,” she added. It could take decades to address.

Some community advocates fear Phillips 66, whose refinery produces up to 139,000 barrels of oil products a day, will offload the financial and health burdens onto the public. The company declined to answer questions, but a spokesperson said it is developing plans to continue removing polluted soil.

“We are in the preliminary planning stages for this work and cannot speculate on a definitive timeline or estimated cost of the decommissioning and remediation,” spokesperson Al Ortiz wrote in an email.

It’s rare for major oil refineries to close, but it may become more common as state and local governments increasingly turn to renewable energy — as California plans to do by subsidizing electric vehicles.

An aerial view of the southeastern side of the Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington.

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The U.S. Energy Information Agency predicts a small increase in gasoline prices due to the Phillips 66 refinery closure and of a Valero-owned refinery in the Bay Area city of Benicia next year. California officials are holding out hope that other companies will buy one or both of the refineries and keep them in operation, as lawmakers are considering whether to streamline permit approvals for refineries.

In the meantime, years of groundwater testing by regulators reveal a toxic legacy. Among the pollutants in the groundwater under the Carson and Wilmington facilities, overseen by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, are lead from buried waste and dangerous levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from foam used to fight fires at the refinery.

The Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington receives refined oil from the Carson plant to make gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

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None degrade naturally and likely will have to be contained underground, said Danny Reible, a professor of environmental engineering at Texas Tech University who has advised governments on such cleanups. It is “effectively impossible to remove 100%” of such pollution, Reible said.

Some contaminants have leached into aquifers that are a source of drinking water. Since 2023, more than five different samplings by Phillips 66 found elevated levels of tert-butyl alcohol, a gasoline additive, in a groundwater monitoring well in a neighborhood about a half-mile from the Wilmington site.

The well, which is not used for drinking water but touches an aquifer that is connected to drinking water wells in South L.A., has been tested since 2008 after regulators suspected pollution had migrated there. Phillips 66 said the tert-butyl alcohol findings are not attributable to the refinery, and the Los Angeles water board said it did not test drinking water wells for the pollutant because they are all more than a mile from the refinery.

As for the Carson site, two reports from 2005, one by the U.S. EPA and another by the local water board, noted its contamination of the Silverado aquifer could affect nearby drinking water wells. Sampling last year found tert-butyl alcohol in a groundwater monitoring well located at the refinery.

The polluted water is being pumped and transported to disposal sites and recycling facilities, said the Phillips 66 spokesperson. The Los Angeles water board said it has overseen the removal of 2.8 million gallons of light non-aqueous phase liquid (a layer of petroleum contamination that floats on top of water) and 317 million gallons of “impacted groundwater” — the size of 480 Olympic pools. What’s known as a biosprage system also injects pressurized air into the contaminated layer to break down some pollutants.

In the soil above the groundwater, there is a plume containing volatile organic compounds, such as benzene — a known carcinogen — and other gasoline chemicals like diisopropyl ether and methyl-tert-butyl ether, according to testing done last year. Their noxious vapors travel upwards and can seep into buildings.

Phillips 66 said it “engaged” Catellus Development Corporation and Deca Companies to evaluate the 650-acre refinery complex — the size of about 500 football fields. Neither responded to requests for interviews.

The job of regulators after the refinery closes is limited and at times unclear.

The water board will continue testing groundwater but has “no role” in the closure, spokesperson Jackie Carpenter said. It could impose fines on Phillips 66, something it has not done recently.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control told Capital & Main that it only oversees waste removed from an asphalt-capped pond at the Carson plant and a concrete-lined stormwater holding basin at the Wilmington site. Any future waste it deems hazardous also would have to be reported for tracking.

The Phillips 66 refinery facility in Carson begins the process of refining crude oil into petroleum products.

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A request for comment sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office went unanswered.

Julia Giarmoleo, a spokesperson for the U.S. EPA, said states are authorized to manage solid waste and groundwater contamination. (In 2019 the EPA rejected superfund financial responsibility requirements for oil refineries.)

A lack of coordination worries environmental justice organizations, which are pressing the state of California to establish a refinery wind-down process.

It’s been a “chaotic” process, said Sylvia Arredondo, civic engagement director at Communities for a Better Environment. Instead, the state should be taking an active lead to “do it as a gradual shift.”

The costs also are uncertain.

In filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Phillips 66 said “asbestos abatement” and “decommissioning of assets” at its Los Angeles refinery would cost $231 million.

But decommissioning and cleaning “are two different processes with wildly different price tags,” said Faraz Rizvi, policy and campaign manager for Asian Pacific Environmental Network, which is holding a town hall meeting to gather input from nearby residents.

Refinery owners’ disclosure of those costs is mostly unregulated, and they’re allowed to presume refineries have no retirement date. That’s different from other industries with more certain retirement dates, such as nuclear, where plant owners must maintain a fund to close generating stations.

Six of the largest oil refining companies in the U.S., including Phillips 66, have actual closure costs estimated at $34 billion combined, but their own estimates total less than $1 billion, according to a report by London-based think tank Carbon Tracker, which based calculations on daily output capacity.

Taxpayers could end up covering shortfalls, said Eric Stevenson, a former director of meteorology, measurement and rules at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “It’s the Wild West right now,” Stevenson said.

Phillips 66 reported a $908 million loss on its Los Angeles refinery in 2024. Its leadership saw a shakeup after the hedge fund led by billionaire Paul Singer bought a $2.5 billion stake in the company and pushed for a focus on other assets, including a petroleum export hub near Houston.

Mass layoffs have followed Singer’s involvement at other companies, such as a petroleum refinery in Contra Costa County owned by Marathon Petroleum. About 600 employees and 300 contractors work at the Los Angeles refinery.

Phillips 66 will retain a presence in Los Angeles. In addition to importing gasoline from its Washington state refinery, it faces federal charges for dumping 790,000 gallons of oil-laden wastewater into county sewers in 2020 and 2021. A criminal trial is scheduled for next year.

Standing outside the Wilmington refinery on a recent morning, longtime resident Anita Gomez urged a group of staff members for state lawmakers not to let the company skirt its obligations. 

She said action is needed to prevent repeating what has happened at other shuttered industrial facilities in the area, including a battery recycling plant in Vernon, where industries have walked away and left the cleanup of their pollution to taxpayers.

“They simply close and don’t clean up,” Gomez said.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.