The Los Angeles City Council is considering an ordinance that would ban the construction of new gas stations to help battle climate change.
"I wrote the motion on council to not permit any further gas stations," City Councilman Paul Koretz told CBSLA 2 News Monday. "This is not a difference anyone will notice in a city with well over 500 gas stations."
According to the Washington Times, Koretz introduced the ordinance to the council in May 2021, but it was tabled by the Planning and Land Use Committee last fall.
"It's really up to cities to turn around climate change," Andy Shrader, director of environmental affairs for Koretz said in the article. "While the motion hasn't gained traction, [Mr. Koretz] and other council leaders expect a hearing on the matter this summer."
The move comes after several municipalities to the north of the nation's second largest city imposed similar bans to battle climate change and help achieve Gov. Gavin Newsom's goal of California ending gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, according to the report.
"Given Gov. Newsom's timeline to end the sale of gas vehicles by 2035, gas stations are a dying business," Koretz said. "Their toxic chemicals take years and millions of dollars to clean up."
Even though Los Angeles has developed a reputation for its constant traffic congestion, and the number of cars using its highway system, it is not the city with the largest number of cars per person, a March 2021 survey by MoneyTalksNews found.
According to that survey, Los Angeles does not even crack the top 10 list of large cities with the highest number of cars per capita, with that distinction going to Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, Wichita, Kansas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, round out the top four, according to the survey.
New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, California, take the top four large U.S. cities where a car is not required.
A representative from the oil industry told the CBS station that banning new gas stations has a downside and could increase prices in the long run.
"It's pretty simple. If you cut back on a commodity we all use every single day and make it tougher to find, that often means costs are only going to go up," Kevin Slagle of Western States Petroleum Association told the news outlet.