Coastal Panel Sued Over Drilling OK

Claiming that the California Coastal Commission’s approval of a controversial plan to sink exploratory wells in the Pacific Palisades violates state environmental laws, a residents group and a 3,500-member environmental group that have fought the plan for more than a decade have filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the program.

The suit by No Oil Inc. and the Pacific Palisades Residents Assn. alleges that the commission approved the plan last July without giving opponents an adequate opportunity to present their views. The suit also alleges that the commission did not have a required environmental impact report and was in violation of a city mandate that such exploration be done in conjunction with actual oil production.

Under the plan, first proposed about 20 years ago, Occidental Petroleum Corp. would sink a series of exploratory wells under the Pacific Palisades bluffs near Will Rogers State Beach.

Occidental has claimed the project, which would last anywhere from 18 months to two years, is needed to confirm the existence of 60 million barrels of oil.

But opponents such as No Oil have long fought the plan, countering that the likelihood of earthquakes and slides in the ecologically sensitive terrain makes any drilling plan a risk.

The Los Angeles Superior Court suit against the commission and its executive director, Peter M. Douglas, comes in the wake of similar litigation filed two years ago against the city.

In that lawsuit, environmentalists gained a major victory when a Superior Court judge in 1985 invalidated the city ordinances that allowed the drilling. He ruled, however, that Occidental could continue to seek city permits while it pursued an appeal.

A decision by the state Court of Appeal is expected by the end of this summer.

According to the latest lawsuit, the Coastal Commission’s own staff recommended in June that the project be denied based on its “inconsistency with (California) Coastal Act policies.” Instead, staff members suggested that the site was better suited for parking or some other recreational use.

Despite that staff recommendation, the Coastal Commission voted to approve the plan anyway on July 7. With that 7-5 vote, it was generally assumed that the lawsuit filed Friday would follow.