Braude Has Votes to Repeal Drilling OK for Occidental

A majority of the 15-member Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday endorsed the repeal of a 2-year-old law granting Occidental Petroleum Corp. drilling rights near the beach at Pacific Palisades.

The formation of a new anti-drilling coalition on the council, led by Councilman Marvin Braude, sets the stage for a possible showdown early next year with Mayor Tom Bradley over the controversial project.

If Bradley again sides with Occidental, as he did in 1985, it would take at least 10 votes to override his veto.

Braude told reporters that he expects Occidental to fight any effort to overturn the city ordinance and “appeal every action that the city takes to protect the public interests.”

Arthur Groman, an Occidental lawyer and longtime member of the oil company’s board, said Tuesday that any repeal by the city would trigger a lawsuit.

“We have thoroughly researched this and have a firm legal opinion that if (Braude’s motion) is successful, we would have a very strong lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles for over a billion dollars,” Groman said. “That represents the value of the oil that would be lost.”

Groman added, “We cannot understand what animates Mr. Braude. . . . He somehow seems to have an obsession with attacking this particular drill site.”

Braude, who represents the Pacific Palisades area, introduced the repeal motion Tuesday, with seven other council members adding their signatures to it. He said he hopes for a council vote by January or February.

Braude’s fast-track timetable was dictated by last week’s state District Court ruling upholding the drilling project. That ruling, upsetting a lower court’s temporary injunction against the drilling, is not expected to become final until mid-January. Occidental has indicated that it wants to begin drilling as soon as possible.

“The fundamental inappropriateness of the Pacific Palisades shoreline as an oil-drilling site is not changed by the state appellate court decision . . . nor was it changed by the council’s adoption of the ordinances in 1985,” Braude said.

Braude said that he is hopeful that the mayor will reverse his earlier stand on the issue. Alluding to the political damage that Bradley sustained after he signed the 1985 drilling law, Braude said with a smile:

“I’m always hopeful about the human condition, and the mayor--when he reexamines all the overwhelming evidence and when he sees what has happened to elections in the city and when he listens to the public--may change his mind.”

Bradley, during an impromptu news conference, reacted curtly when asked how he might respond to a council-approved ordinance repealing Occidental’s permission to drill.

“My longstanding practice has been (that) I won’t make any comment on matters that are going before the council until they take their final action,” Bradley said. “You never know what’s going to happen, and I don’t waste my time going through the exercise trying to analyze what’s been proposed.

“So when they take their action, whenever that action may be, that will be the time when I will be prepared to make a statement, not before,” Bradley said before walking off to his office.

The Occidental project has been a source of bitter public and private wrangling for 15 years. Before 1985, Bradley twice vetoed the council’s actions permitting the drilling.

After Bradley stunned observers and his own staff by approving the ordinance two years ago, he was haunted by the action in the following year’s gubernatorial election as many environmentalists withheld their support.

Council Makeup Changed

Braude said Tuesday that times have changed and to punctuate that fact, he introduced his repeal motion with the signatures of three of the council’s five new members penned beneath his own name. Gloria Molina, Ruth Galanter and Mike Woo--all of whom succeeded three members who supported Occidental in 1985--joined Braude, Ernani Bernardi, Joel Wachs, Zev Yaroslavsky and Joy Picus in supporting the repeal proposal.

“The present council better reflects the views of the people of our city,” Braude said. “I am very happy that eight council persons have joined together to introduce this motion and it should be a clear signal to the city administration that the majority of the council wants this to be processed with alacrity.”

To assure that a repeal of the ordinance would be veto-proof, Braude must secure the backing of at least two other members. The remaining new members, Nate Holden and Richard Alatorre, indicated Tuesday that they have not made up their minds on the issue.

“What I want is a full hearing on an ordinance,” Holden said.