Supervisors Vote to Oppose Plan for Oil, Gas Leasing Off Peninsula

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 0 this week to oppose leasing of oil and natural gas tracts off the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The proposed leasing, which is vehemently opposed by Peninsula residents, is part of a tentative agreement on offshore oil drilling reached last month between the U.S. Department of the Interior and a delegation of California congressmen.

Meanwhile, the City Council in Redondo Beach, calling the agreement a fair compromise, this week instructed its staff to prepare a resolution in support of the proposal. Mayor Barbara Doerr called it a “good proposal” because it spares all but 1,000 square miles of the 57,000 square miles of sea floor potentially available for leasing.

But in Hermosa Beach, the City Council voted this week to reiterate its opposition to any offshore oil drilling in Southern California, a longstanding position of that council. The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council also voted late last month to oppose the compromise and the city of Palos Verdes Estates wrote a letter this week to Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel opposing the agreement.

At the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Pete Schabarum abstained from voting on Supervisor Deane Dana’s motion, which also opposes drilling off the Malibu coastline.

Dana, whose district includes the Peninsula, where he lives, requested that the secretary of the Interior meet with elected representatives from all affected communities to discuss their concerns over the proposed sale of tract leases. He also asked that the California congressional delegation recognize and support the county’s position.

Dana said he intends to testify against proposed lease sales off Malibu and Palos Verdes Peninsula when Hodel comes to the Los Angeles area later this month.

“They have singled out 150 tracts from 500 tracts, and I just can’t understand why they would select scenic areas,” Dana said. “If this sale is allowed to go forward, it is very likely there would be drilling off Nicholas Canyon Beach, three miles out, and off Point Fermin and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. That is not acceptable.”

However, Schabarum and Antonovich both argued that the United States is in need of domestic oil and that drilling offshore oil locally should be permitted.

“This is a situation where we have a problem and a need, and then we say let’s not do it in my backyard,” Schabarum said.