ELECTIONS ’88 : ORANGE COUNTY : Some New Offshore Drilling OK, Rohrabacher Says

In a marked departure with his local GOP counterparts, congressional candidate Dana Rohrabacher said Friday that he would favor some additional offshore oil and gas drilling along the Orange County coast.

Rohrabacher, the Republican candidate in the 42nd Congressional District, said that “with proper environmental protections” there is no reason that more oil and gas drilling should not be done off Orange County in areas where rigs are already in place.

However, Rohrabacher, a staunch conservative and a former speech writer for President Reagan, said he would oppose any offshore drilling in “virgin waters” off Los Angeles County.

The 42nd District hugs the coastline, stretching from Huntington Beach in Orange County to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Torrance in Los Angeles County.

Rohrabacher made these remarks when the issue surfaced during the taping of a political affairs show at the Huntington Beach studios of KOCE-TV Channel 50, the county’s public television station. (The program, featuring candidates from the 42nd and 43rd congressional districts, is scheduled for broadcast at 7:30 p.m. Friday.)

Rohrabacher’s Democratic opponent, Guy C. Kimbrough, said he “totally opposes” any new offshore oil drilling. Kimbrough, a community college political science instructor, said there is not enough oil off the county coast to offset the risk a spill would pose to the beach communities and economies dependent on tourism. He called that part of the coast “some of the most beautiful in the state” and warned that its beauty could be lost if “drilling is expanded.”

Richard D. Rose, the Peace and Freedom Party candidate from Long Beach, also said he is opposed to any new drilling in local waters.

Rohrabacher said that coastal cities should receive directly revenue generated by those operations. Lease fees and other costs oil companies pay for the right to drill in coastal waters now go to the federal government.

Most Orange County lawmakers, including Republicans, oppose efforts to expand offshore drilling operations.

All three candidates in the 43rd Congressional District--Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), Democrat Howard Greenebaum of Oceanside and Libertarian Daniel L. Muhe of Carlsbad--said they oppose any attempts to open local waters to offshore oil activities.