Oil companies sue Los Angeles over ban on oil and gas drilling
An oil pumpjack operates in the Inglewood Oil Field on January 28, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
An oil company with a drilling operation in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit against the city over its law to ban new wells and phase out all drilling within city limits.
Warren Resources, which operates the 10-acre, oil-extraction site, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in LA Superior Court seeking to stop the ordinance from taking effect. The company argued the city failed to conduct an adequate environmental review of the potential impacts of halting extraction.
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The lawsuit also argued the ordinance constitutes a violation of the California Environmental Quality Act, the city’s General Plan and the state and federal constitutions. Warren said the law would force the shutdown of its operations, which are located solely within the LA area.
The city in December voted to immediately ban new extraction and shut down existing operations within 20 years, marking one of the strongest environmental policies ever enacted in the state of California. There are 26 oil and gas fields and more than 5,000 active and idle wells in LA, in areas like Wilmington, Harbor Gateway, downtown, West LA, South LA and the northwest San Fernando Valley.
“The City has failed to ask the necessary questions and obtain the required evidence at every turn, has rushed every legally required process along the way, and as a result has based its approval and adoption of the Ordinance on a woefully deficient environmental document,” attorneys for Warren wrote in the lawsuit.
Ian Thompson, a spokesperson for the LA City Attorney’s office, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Attorneys for Warren didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The ordinance has been praised by residents who have complained for years that pollution from nearby drilling has harmed their health. The oil industry has largely condemned the city’s ban and argued that phasing out production would hike gas prices and make LA dependent on foreign energy.
Wilmington is a predominantly working-class and Latino community of more than 50,000 people and is surrounded by oil refineries and contains pumpjacks among its public parks and schoolyards. The community has some of the highest rates of asthma and cancer in the state, according to a report by the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment.
More than half a million people in LA live within a quarter-mile of active oil wells, which produce hazardous air pollutants such as benzene, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter and formaldehyde. Nearly one-third of the wells in LA are located outside of drill sites between parks, schools and houses.
Residents near drilling sites are at greater risk of preterm births, asthma, respiratory disease and cancer, research shows, and drilling has disproportionately harmed Black and Latino residents.
Several other oil entities, including E&B Natural Resources Management Corp and Hillcrest Beverly Oil Corp., also filed a separate lawsuit on Tuesday against the city over the ordinance.
Last year, California lawmakers voted to ban new oil wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools and other populated areas after years of complaints by residents and activist groups.
Tesla has inked its first deal to build a grid-scale battery power plant in China amid a strained trading relationship between Beijing and Washington.
The U.S. company posted on the Chinese social media service Weibo that the project would be the largest of its kind in China when completed.
Utility-scale battery energy storage systems help electricity grids keep supply and demand in balance. They are increasingly needed to bridge the supply-demand mismatch caused by intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind.
Chinese media outlet Yicai first reported that the deal, worth 4 billion yuan ($556 million), had been signed by Tesla, the local government of Shanghai and financing firm China Kangfu International Leasing, according to the Reuters news agency.
Tesla said its battery factory in Shanghai had produced more than 100 Megapacks — the battery designed for utility-scale deployment — in the first quarter of this year. One Megapack can provide up to 1 megawatt of power for four hours.
“The grid-side energy storage power station is a ‘smart regulator’ for urban electricity, which can flexibly adjust grid resources,” Tesla said on Weibo, according to a Google translation.
This would “effectively solve the pressure of urban power supply and ensure the safe, stable and efficient electricity demand of the city,” it added. “After completion, this project is expected to become the largest grid-side energy storage project in China.”
According to the company’s website, each Megapack retails for just under $1 million in the U.S. Pricing for China was unavailable.
The deal is significant for Tesla, as China’s CATL and carmaker BYD compete with similar products. The two Chinese companies have made significant inroads in battery development and manufacturing, with the former holding about 40% of the global market share.
CATL was also expected to supply battery cells and packs that are used in Tesla’s Megapacks, according to a Reuters news source.
Tesla’s deal with a Chinese local authority is also significant as it comes after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on imports from China, straining the geopolitical relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk was also a close ally of President Trump during the initial stages of the trade war, further complicating the business outlook for U.S. automakers in China.
The demand for grid-scale battery installation, however, is significant in China. In May last year, Beijing set a new target to add nearly 5 gigawatts of battery-powered electricity supply by the end of 2025, bringing the total capacity to 40 gigawatts.
Tesla has also been exporting its Megapacks to Europe and Asia from its Shanghai plant to meet global demand.
Capacity for global battery energy storage systems rose 42 gigawatts in 2023, nearly doubling the total increase in capacity observed in the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed reporting.
Environment
BYD is testing solid-state EV batteries in its Seal sedan with nearly 1,200 miles of range
BYD has now begun testing solid-state EV batteries in its Tesla Model 3-rivalling Seal. Initial tests suggest that the total driving range could reach nearly 1,200 miles (1,875 km).
BYD begins testing solid-state EV batteries in the Seal
It has been over a decade since BYD first began researching and developing the promising new EV battery technology.
Last year, the company reached a milestone by testing its first solid-state battery cells with capacities of 20 Ah and 60 Ah. We knew BYD was planning to launch its first vehicles powered by the new batteries in 2027 after Sun Huajun, the CTO of BYD’s battery business, confirmed the timeline earlier this year.
At the 2025 China All-Solid-State Battery Innovation and Development Summit, Sun stated that BYD has officially installed solid-state batteries in its popular Seal EV and is now testing them on roads.
Once testing is finalized, which is expected to occur in 2027, BYD plans to begin installing solid-state batteries in its production vehicles.
Between 2027 and 2029, production will be limited during the first two years. However, in 2030, BYD plans to begin mass production. BYD has previously said that by the end of the decade, it expects “liquid and solid to be the same price.” In other words, solid-state batteries will be about the same cost as current liquid lithium-ion batteries.
The Seal, BYD’s Tesla Model 3-rivalling electric sedan, is expected to be the first EV available with solid-state batteries, starting in 2027. Other models will begin to hit the market in 2028 and the following years.
BYD’s solid-state batteries have an energy density of 400 Wh/kg, or nearly twice that of current lithium-ion batteries.
According to local reports, BYD’s solid-state EV batteries set a record by gaining 1,500 km (932 miles) range in just 12 minutes of charging.
The test charged the battery to just 80%, meaning total EV range could reach upwards of 1,875 km (1,165 miles). Keep in mind, that is CLTC range. On the EPA scale, it would be closer to 1,300 km (808 miles), which is still way more than enough.
BYD’s Seal currently starts at just 175,800 yuan in China, or about $25,000. When it initially hits the market in 2027 with solid-state batteries, the Seal will likely be priced higher.
Electrek’s Take
BYD is already dominating the global EV market. It just surpassed Tesla in Europe and the UK in monthly registrations for the first time, and this could be just the start.
With several new batteries and plenty of other EV technologies, including ultra-fast chargers, smart driving features, and advanced new platforms, BYD is laying the groundwork for more growth over the next few years.
Not only that, BYD is already known for its low-cost cars like the Seagull (Dolping Surf in Europe), priced under $10,000 in China. The new tech is expected to unlock longer driving range, faster charging, and lower costs.
BYD will compete with CATL, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Nissan, and several others that are also aiming to launch their first EVs with solid-state batteries around 2027 or 2028. Nissan’s director of product planning in Europe, Christop Ambland, confirmed the company’s timeline this week with Auto Express, saying, “We will be ready for SSB (solid-state batteries) in 2028.”
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