Occidental Bankrolls Pro-Drilling Ads in Ethnic Papers

A citizens committee formed to promote Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s plans to drill for oil beneath the Pacific Palisades has been funneling company money into newspaper advertising aimed at the city’s black and Latino communities, a financial disclosure statement shows.

The pro-drilling group, which calls itself the Los Angeles Public and Coastal Protection Committee, collected $35,000 between Dec. 17 and Dec. 31--all of it from Occidental. More than $28,200 was spent on advertising in ethnic newspapers that mostly serve black and Latino communities.

Quick Response

The disclosures drew a quick response from drilling opponents, who said it was evidence that the other side was trying to promote the Palisades oil issue as a battle between “haves” who want to halt drilling near the beach and “have-nots” who would, theoretically, benefit from the city’s oil revenues.

“This is a gross attempt to polarize the community and make this a divisive matter between people who want to preserve beaches and poor people. And that’s reprehensible,” said Councilman Marvin Braude, co-sponsor of an initiative that, if successful, would repeal Occidental’s permits and ban drilling within 1,000 yards of the mean high-tide line.

But an attorney for the pro-drilling committee, Mickey Kantor, said that it was the “narrow, selfish interests” of the drilling foes that are “Balkanizing Los Angeles.”

“The only polarization going on is on their part by refusing to share their resources with all of Los Angeles,” Kantor said. “We are for people coming together and willing to share the burden. . . . My question is, why is their neighborhood any different from any other?”

The disclosure statement showed that the committee spent about $13,000 in advertising in black community newspapers and $14,000 in Spanish-language publications.

The advertising rhetoric itself is relatively tame. Under the heading “Building for Tomorrow,” the ad explains that the city already has 17 scattered drilling sites.

Kantor said it also explains how “an environmentally sensitive, inland energy development program”--the drilling site is across Pacific Coast Highway from Will Rogers State Beach--”would create money for police and community services.”

The ad gives a toll-free number for people interested in obtaining more information. “We’re trying to build a base of support in response to the initiative,” Kantor said.