Palisades Oil Drilling Would Make the Bay ‘Fair Game’

Proposition O must be passed not just to prevent Occidental Petroleum from implementing its dangerous proposal to drill 60 oil wells at the base of a landslide area in Pacific Palisades but also to prevent the oil industry from drilling in the Santa Monica Bay itself.

The world’s most powerful oil companies, aided by James Watt and Donald Hodel, have tenaciously sought to drill in the bay. A bipartisan coalition in Congress has resisted this onslaught, arguing that California’s coastline is one of our most precious and irreplaceable resources, essential both to a sound environment and to a strong coastal economy.

We have argued that Californians treasure this resource and are united in the fight to preserve it. But the oil industry claims that the senators and congressmen waging this battle do not reflect the will of our constituents. According to the oil industry, the citizens don’t really care if we drill off our coast.

Industry representatives are poised and ready to argue, if Occidental’s Proposition P passes and if Proposition O fails, that the citizens of Los Angeles do not really care about offshore drilling and that it should be allowed to proceed. For this reason the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and other leading environmental organizations all support Proposition O and oppose Proposition P.

Oil-drilling proponents will point to the 60 oil wells that Occidental plans across from Will Rogers State Beach as evidence that oil drilling is acceptable in the bay. The fact that a highway separates the oil wells from the beach is insignificant.

Some say that this argument is analogous to arguing that cutting a tree on the outskirts of Eureka will lead to Redwood National Park being logged. This is flatly false. The park is protected by federal law. Santa Monica Bay is not--and the oil industry continues to spare no effort to drill there.

We have won several battles in Congress by just one vote, and the fight becomes tougher every year. Proposition P supporters can claim that offshore drilling will not occur, but those of us who have fought hard in Congress to protect the bay can assure them that the fight will be much tougher--and we could well lose--if Occidental succeeds.

At a congressional hearing on Oct. 24 in Santa Monica, a key representative of the Department of the Interior admitted under oath that Secretary Donald P. Hodel used onshore drilling at least four times to help justify seeking drilling in federal waters off Alaska, and acknowledged (reluctantly, but again under oath) that drilling onshore in Pacific Palisades would likely be considered by the Interior Department as a factor in deciding whether to drill in Santa Monica Bay.

Occidental is trying to confuse voters with a campaign of fraud and deception. Occidental acknowledged its sponsorship of television ads opposing Proposition O and supporting Proposition P only after it was forced to do so by court order.

Occidental makes the fraudulent claims that O is for oil and that Proposition P will help prevent offshore oil drilling. But Proposition P cannot ban oil drilling in Santa Monica Bay. Such decisions are within the province of the state and federal governments. A local initiative like Proposition P has no force of law on the issue of offshore oil drilling.

The Los Angeles Times itself in 1970 correctly said, “There is much at stake here. If oil in quantity is found, there could follow a drive to dissolve the sanctuary, which now forbids oil drilling in the Santa Monica Bay.” In opposing this drilling The Times also said that the “site of this proposed exploration is just south of an old section of highway covered by a landslide 10 years ago that took the life of a highway engineer.”

To protect our coastline and our community, we must vote Yes on O and No on P.