Huntington Beach : Chamber of Commerce Urges Offshore Drilling

Drilling for offshore oil should be expanded to include all California coastal tracts, according to Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce members who approved a resolution that they will present to U.S. Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel when he visits Newport Beach on Saturday.

The resolution states that the United States needs to expand drilling to bolster the nation’s oil reserves, that adequate safeguards to protect the environment are available and that Hodel should reconsider a plan that would open about 1,300 square miles of ocean floor off California for exploration. About 57,000 square miles are protected from drilling until the year 2000.

“It’s important to the economic well-being of the country that we have adequate energy resources,” Chamber President Spencer Sheldon said Wednesday. He said that the nation should be protected from shortages such as those experienced in 1973 and 1979, but he added that some tracts should be off-limits, such as those in pristine areas and those used by the military.

The chamber’s vote comes after the City Council in Huntington Beach, which already has two drilling rigs off its coast, reversed its position on drilling and voted against Hodel’s plan on July 22. City councils in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and San Clemente have also stated their opposition.

The Newport Beach chamber has a longstanding position against expansion of offshore drilling, said Richard Luehrs, executive director of the chamber.