San Diego Council Seeks to Block Ocean Drilling

The San Diego City Council has become the first brick in what it hopes will become a wall of resistance against offshore oil and gas exploration in San Diego County, voting to place a measure on the November ballot banning any onshore pipelines and refineries along the city’s coastline.

The council voted unanimously to ask San Diego voters on Nov. 4 to amend the City Charter to make it impossible for the city to issue permits for construction, operation or maintenance of pipelines, refineries and other facilities that would be needed to support offshore drilling.

In doing so, the city became the first public agency in San Diego County to seek to use its local powers to discourage offshore drilling. Since oil reserves off the city’s coast are considered minimal, the council’s idea is to make offshore drilling more expensive so that oil companies will avoid exploring the area under any federal leasing plan.

Similar Actions Planned

After the city’s action Monday, other officials in the county indicated that they would follow suit. County Supervisor Susan Golding said her staff would present a similar ballot proposal to ban onshore facilities along the unincorporated coastline north of the city. And the Oceanside City Council is scheduled to debate an onshore ban during its first meeting next month.

“The idea is to cause a wall, if you will, against onshore support facilities all the way from the Mexican border to the county line,” acting San Diego Mayor Ed Struiksma said after the council vote Monday.

An oil industry representative said an onshore ban would have little effect in San Diego.

“To me, it seems a lot like Chicken Little running around, saying the sky is falling down,” said Henry W. Wright, manager of exploration for the Western Oil & Gas Assn., based in Los Angeles.

Tankers Could Be Used

Wright said that if a local ban were imposed, any oil well drilled off the San Diego coast could be serviced by tankers and other vessels, which would transport the crude oil and gas to refineries elsewhere.

Yet Wright conceded outside the council chambers that using the ships would “add a substantial expense” and could throw a cloud over any exploration efforts off the San Diego coastline.

Offshore oil and gas drilling is regulated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, with approval from Congress. The issue has become controversial as environmentalists and Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel have battled over the amount of leasing and exploration to be permitted.