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Another Side of Oil Drilling Issue

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In the Nov. 22 edition of the Orange County section of The Times, an article appeared about the anger of the anti-drilling forces over the defeat in Washington of a one-year ban on oil exploration.

As a beachfront resident of Newport Beach, I am quite positive that my personal commendation to Gov. George Deukmejian for having the courage to write the letter, which hopefully helped end the ban, is joined by a great majority of non-beachfront residents of California, let alone the United States.

The article, of course, does not mention the reason for searching for additional offshore oil. The article does not mention that this ban has already been in effect for the past four years.

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The article does not point out that there are many offshore oil drilling platforms that have existed for almost 20 years off the California coast in the beautiful Santa Barbara Channel and with one exception have caused no damage.

I like to remind those certain dwellers and their elected political representatives that they also are bound by the same needs as those who do not enjoy beachfront living--the need for fossil fuel for our transportation. We are as vulnerable today as a few years ago to the vagaries of an offshore economy and supply.

It is almost ludicrous to read the quote of a councilwoman from Newport Beach that “there is no way to mitigate the environmental concerns we have here. They want to take away our beauty and our view. Our sandy beaches and our coves are just too sensitive for that.” Who is “they?” Who said anything about drilling on the sandy beaches or in the coves?

We are going to have offshore oil drilling and I think a lot of people are sick and tired of having one branch of local government threatening a lawsuit against another branch of government with both plaintiff and defendant being funded by the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

Let’s deal for the good of the country and not just for the isolated good of a few lucky beachfront dwellers who have a much more selfish motive.

KARL O. BERGHEER

Newport Beach

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