Westside oil drilling site facing questions over permits

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Operators of an oil drilling site at a Westside golf course are facing criticism over alleged violations of Los Angeles city regulations.

For more than 50 years, Hillcrest Beverly Oil Corporation has been drilling for oil on city-owned land between the Rancho Park Golf Course and the Cheviot Hills Recreation Center.

The city began an investigation after getting a tip that the company had installed a gas burner at the site.

City Councilman Paul Koretz said some of the equipment had never been granted permits.

He said there haven't been problems at the site, but it highlights the need for the city to bring all drilling sites into compliance.

Hillcrest Beverly Oil says it's now working with the city.

"We need to do much more oversight. It's been decades and decades in the making where the city hasn't really done the permitting that it should have," Koretz said.

The company said the site is regularly inspected by multiple agencies, including the Los Angeles Fire Department and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

"Our modernized equipment installed in 2013 reduces air emissions and increases safely in the surrounding areas which is why we have not received complaints from residents, businesses, park users or schools," the company said.