Irvine Co. Opposes Drilling Off Coast : U.S. Plan Called Threat to Quality of Life in County

The Irvine Co., Orange County’s largest private landowner, with a major stake in coastal development, on Tuesday asked U.S. Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel to reconsider plans to open 54 square miles off local shores to oil and gas exploration.

“We fear that oil drilling in the tracts proposed for exploration off our coast could threaten the environment and quality of life which helps support this county’s vibrant, growing economy,” company president Thomas H. Nielsen said in a letter to Hodel sent Tuesday.

Nielsen told Hodel that Orange County’s coast is an important natural resource deserving protection equal to that given areas such as Big Sur, which would be among the nearly 98% of the state’s coastline spared from oil drilling until the year 2000 under a tentative compromise between the secretary and California congressional representatives.

Joined Mounting Opposition

With its first public statement after months of study from the sidelines, the Irvine Co. joined a mounting chorus of local opposition to the drilling as Hodel’s visit to Orange County drew nearer.

Supervisor Bruce Nestande, who was absent when the Board of Supervisors voted to oppose further drilling off Orange County through the year 2000, said Tuesday that he supports retaining the current statewide ban in favor of developing alternative energy sources.

Nestande said he will join several other local officials scheduled to testify before Hodel against offshore drilling at a 9 a.m. town hall meeting Saturday in the Newport Beach City Council chambers.

“We have one ocean and many oil fields,” said Nestande, a candidate for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor; Nestande has close ties to the Reagan Administration. “I believe that there are energy sources out there that can take up the slack so we are not destroying an ocean and a coastline.”

Inland cities and communities --including Costa Mesa, Irvine, Los Alamitos, Santa Ana and the Laguna Niguel Community Council--also have joined a coalition of four coastal cities that would be most impacted by Hodel’s compromise. Each will be sending representatives to testify before Hodel, authorities said.

A spokesman for the coalition of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and San Clemente--cities that would be most affected by the six proposed tracts located in an arc off their shores--said officials in the cities are “delighted” to have the support of the Irvine Co., Nestande and other cities.

“This will show Mr. Hodel that it is not just people along the coast who are concerned about the issue,” said Denny Freidenrich, a Newport Beach-based consultant hired to organize the coalition campaign against the offshore drilling compromise.

Others scheduled top speak in opposition at Saturday’s Newport Beach meeting are state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), Orange County Supervisor Harriett Wieder and Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), who arranged Hodel’s stop as part of a whirlwind tour to get reaction from coastal residents who would be impacted by the tentative plan.

Badham Walked Out

Badham, who walked out of negotiations between Hodel and members of California’s delegation rather than discuss opening any tracts off Orange County, has sought a meeting with President Reagan and White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan next month on the issue.

Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) also was scheduled to oppose the compromise--but on the grounds that more drilling must take place rather than less for the nation to become independent of foreign oil interests.

The tentative proposal would lift a 4-year-old moratorium on oil and gas exploration along 1,350 square miles of ocean floor, two-thirds of it in the Eel River Basin off Humboldt Bay in extreme Northern California.

The remaining areas proposed for lease include 126 square miles off Santa Maria, 198 square miles of the outer Santa Monica Bay, 36 square miles off Long Beach, 54 square miles off Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach and 45 square miles off Oceanside.

The tentative agreement, unveiled July 16 by Hodel and Sens. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) and Reps. Leon Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) and Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), protects Big Sur, the San Francisco coast and peninsula, the Farallon Islands, the Mendocino coast, Point Reyes, the Bodega Basin and military areas, including those off southern San Diego County.

As written into the Interior Department’s 1986 appropriations bill, the plan also would allow an exploratory well to be drilled no closer than 18 miles offshore in each of three areas--Point Arena, Bodega Bay and Santa Cruz--to study geological formations.

Could Collapse

There have been signs, however, that the agreement could collapse or be reworked substantially. Hodel, under siege by the oil industry, said last week that the 150 tracts would be reassessed and possibly replaced. On Tuesday, he denied ever promising a specific number of tracts.

Hodel and the California delegation have agreed to work out a final compromise before the current moratorium expires Oct. 1, ending protection of the coastline.

In Orange County, opposition revolves around the twin issues of environmental safety and economic impacts on 28 million tourists annually.

Although most concede that oil drilling and pumping technology has come a long way since the blowout that fouled Santa Barbara beaches in 1969, opponents argue that fumes from diesel engines on the offshore platforms would significantly worsen the Southland’s already serious air pollution problems.

“It is as big an issue as the potential for spills and the unsightliness of the oil rigs,” Nestande said. “We are marginally meeting air (quality) standards now, and this added pollution is going to make life more miserable in this community.”

In his letter to Hodel, released Tuesday, Nielsen said, “While we appreciate the technological advances which have been achieved in recent years, we remain concerned that such near-shore oil operations could negatively impact our region’s air quality, coastal recreation resources and tourism industry.”

The Irvine Co. owns most of the undeveloped land between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach on the inland side of Coast Highway and has plans to develop 2,000 homes and multiple family dwellings and two hotel-resort complexes amid large areas of open space over the next 30 years.

Threat to Land Values

The value of that land is said to be threatened by Hodel’s agreement to open tracts off Orange County to oil exploration, but other sources say that Santa Barbara real estate values have not been depressed by extensive oil exploration and drilling.

Nielsen said Tuesday that the Irvine Co. decided to take a position because the company’s interests are intertwined with those of the county as a whole. “We want him (Hodel) to know . . . that we share an interest in the future of the county,” Nielsen said.

“It’s partly aesthetics . . ., and we also have a concern about the impact (on the coastal environment) if anything might happen. We’re not sure at this point how much offshore work could be handled in a safe manner.”

Nielsen said that he regrets that longstanding family commitments prevent him from attending Saturday’s hearing but that a company representative will be present to read his letter to Hodel and be available for questions.