The City of Whittier, California wants to allow oil drilling on a 20 acre parcel of land purchased as part of a much larger parcel acquired by the City in the 1990’s using bond funds approved by Proposition A. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC), a state agency which provided funds to assist in purchase of the land, wants to prevent the drilling.

At the heart of the dispute is Whittier’s desire to generate royalties from oil drilling to help fund City government versus SMMC’s desire to preserve land as open space in accordance with its charter.