Hodel Excludes Offshore Tracts

Interior Secretary Donald Hodel said today that he will exclude the Monterey Bay and the Cordell Bank from oil and gas exploration because of opinions expressed in a series of town meetings.

Hodel, who has been holding the public hearings to collect comment on a proposed congressional compromise on the exploration, also said he remains open to further changes in the plan. Under the proposed compromise, 150 nine-mile-square tracts could be explored and drilled for oil and gas. The Cordell Bank is an underwater ridge near the Farallon Islands.