Santa Monica : Pipeline Ban Considered
Santa Monica will consider a law banning pipelines in a move aimed at discouraging Occidental Petroleum from applying for a pipeline route through the city.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to have the staff draw up the ordinance. Occidental has considered applying for several routes, including some through Santa Monica, to its proposed oil-drilling site in the Pacific Palisades if Proposition P passes.
City Councilwoman Christine Reed said she thought the law was unnecessary because of a 1939 ordinance banning oil-drilling and related activities in Santa Monica.
But City Atty. Robert M. Myers said a Shell Oil pipeline was built through the city in 1941, and he suggested that council members consider sending a stronger signal. (Santa Monica and Shell recently reached agreement for the oil company to pay the city $1.7 million for use of the pipeline from May, 1981, to March of next year.)
In voting on asking for the stronger ban, the council was acting on a request from Ken Genser, a co-chairman of the political faction Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.
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