Countywide : ‘Ocean Park’ Proposed to Combat Oil Drilling

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday endorsed creation of a “national ocean park” in waters between Orange County and Santa Catalina Island that would put the area off-limits to oil drilling.

All four supervisors said that if offshore oil were needed for national security reasons, they would go along with drilling. But they said that more offshore drilling now could have adverse effects on air quality in the county.

Last month, Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel announced plans to open millions of acres off the California coast to drilling for oil and gas, including areas off Orange County shores.

County officials said all the county’s coastal cities, with the exception of Seal Beach, have backed the proposed “ocean park,” consisting only of water and without any land, as a way of heading off drilling.

Federal officials are expected to oppose the park plan, and any sale of leasing rights in the waters off the county will not take place for another two years at the earliest.