Beach Drilling Wrangle Ends on Quirky Note

In a quirky finish to 4 1/2 years of debate, the Los Angeles City Council deadlocked 7 to 7 Wednesday on whether to repeal ordinances permitting Occidental Petroleum Corp. to drill for oil beneath Pacific Palisades.

The vote, with one member absent, was quirky because a drilling foe, Councilman Ernani Bernardi, broke ranks with his allies for his own maverick reasons and voted against the repeal motion, while still denouncing Occidental’s plan. The vote was inconsequential because, in all likelihood, the drilling issue will be settled at the polls in November.

Councilman Marvin Braude, while urging the council to take a symbolic stand against the drilling, announced that petitions bearing 115,000 signatures will be submitted to the city clerk today endorsing a ballot measure that would nullify city ordinances permitting Occidental’s drilling and ban oil drilling 1,000 yards inland of the mean high-tide line. The measure needs 69,517 signatures of certified Los Angeles voters to qualify for the November ballot.

Meanwhile, representatives of a political action group financed by Occidental said it will turn in 140,000 signatures for its rival measure to allow onshore drilling along the coast and stipulate that some oil income be used for education and police service.

Braude has denounced the rival petition as an effort to “confuse and mislead” voters.

Reverses His Field

Going into Wednesday’s City Council meeting, it was widely presumed that Braude would get eight votes, scoring a symbolic victory but still falling two votes short of the 10 needed to advance the repeal measure to Mayor Tom Bradley.

But Bernardi, known for his sometimes idiosyncratic ways, reversed his earlier endorsement of Braude’s measure, expressing fears that it would “muddy the waters” of the continuing debate. The initiative, he said in an interview, is “the proper way to go.”

Despite Bernardi’s stated rationale, however Occidental attorney Maria Hummer said the 7-7 vote meant that the repeal effort “was soundly defeated after 4 1/2 years and 20 public hearings.” Councilman Richard Alatorre, who cast a crucial vote in Occidental’s favor at an earlier meeting, was absent.

Braude, who leads the council fight against the Occidental proposal to drill, said he was disappointed by Bernardi’s vote but added, “He’s his own man.”