Santa Monica Clarifies Bay Moratorium Zone

The Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved an emergency resolution Tuesday clarifying the boundaries of the Santa Monica Bay oil drilling moratorium zone that Mayor Christine E. Reed misrepresented in correspondance with state and federal officials.

The resolution reaffirms the city’s longstanding opposition to oil drilling in the bay and specifies a minimum boundary that extends more than 24 miles offshore and across the Ventura County line.

The council sent the resolution to Rep. Mel Levine (D-Los Angeles), who met Wednesday with Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel to negotiate continuing the moratorium on offshore oil drilling.

Levine charged last week that a letter written by Reed on city stationery had undermined his negotiating position with Hodel by misrepresenting the size of the bay.

In a May 3 letter to Gordon Duffy, former California secretary of environmental affairs, Reed described the boundary as a straight line extending from Point Dume to the tip of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, creating a much narrower area than that supported by Levine and the city in previous years.

Levine said that he and other California congressmen were meeting with Hodel when he “plucked” Reed’s letter--with the definition of the smaller bay--from his desk. Hodel asked Levine why the mayor of Santa Monica disagreed with Levine’s definition of the moratorium area.

“It made my case much more difficult to maintain,” Levine said last week.

Reed said that her May 3 letter was a “technical mistake” and did not represent the city’s position. She wrote another letter on July 2 to Levine identifying the larger boundaries for the moratorium zone.

But Levine and other council members said that the emergency resolution was needed to clarify the city’s position. Councilman William H. Jennings said that Levine asked the city to pass the resolution to present to Hodel in the Wednesday meeting.

Some council members expressed their anger at having to pass the resolution in a hurry and without a public hearing. “We are in this dilemma because you, madam mayor, acted precipitously on your own and tried to draw lines,” Councilman James P. Conn said.

“You’re absolutely right,” Reed said. “We are in this mess because I misunderstood and made a mistake. . . . It was a mistake and I’ve already tried to rectify the situation.”

Councilman Dennis Zane criticized Reed for writing the letter on city stationery.