Activists Demand Coast Protection : Protest: Environmentalists and politicians urge legislation to avoid another disaster.

Prompted by Orange County’s oil spill, environmental activists and politicians gathered Saturday to protest offshore oil drilling and demand legislation to protect the environment.

“We’re facing a major disaster,” said Janice Graham, a Laguna Hills Democrat who is running for the 31st State Senate District seat in the April 10 runoff election. “This is our coastline. If (an oil spill) happens here, it happens to everyone.”

The demonstration, which attracted a crowd of beach-goers, began in the morning and carried on through the afternoon with a variety of speakers representing a cross-section of groups, including Laguna Greenbelt, Laguna Canyon Conservancy, Greenpeace, the Green Movement, the Sierra Club and the Laguna Hills Audubon Society.

“What we want is citizen action and the raising of consciousness globally,” said demonstration organizer Nancy Zeiger, who founded the nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental group Enemies of Pollution.

“Our message is getting carried up and down the coast,” Zeiger said as she held up signs with other demonstrators that read “Save Our Shores,” “We Love Our Seas,” and “California Ocean Sanctuary Now.”

Passing motorists honked their horns and waved as they drove by the gathering on Pacific Coast Highway at Broadway.

Laguna Beach Councilman Robert F. Gentry told a crowd of about 60 people, “We’re furious because that oil could have gotten into this part of the county.”

Gentry said that he and others have discussed making Orange County’s coastline a national park to protect it.

“We have decided to take on the issue of protecting the beach permanently. . . . This area should be a national park,” he said to a cheering crowd.

Laguna Beach Mayor Lida Lenny said: “So many people feel there is nothing they can do. We have to realize the greatest threat right now is the threat to our environment. It is time for us to make a difference. You have the power to make a change.”

Jon Brand, an environmental activist and also former mayor of Laguna Beach, said: “Everybody loves the beach. You’ve got to protect it.

“We now know if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. . . . Read my lips, President Bush. Save our beaches. Save our shores,” he said.

Members of local environmental groups attended the demonstration with messages of their own.

Marion Pack, coordinator of Orange County’s Earth Day on April 22, said, “We need to move toward the year 2000 and make a concentrated effort to clean up our planet.

“Any event we can do at this point is important. We need to make people think,” she said.

She urged the crowd to take one of her flyers describing the occasion and asked that they all pledge to help improve the environment.

Lisa Davis, 21, of Laguna Beach was riding her bike along the beach when she was attracted to the gathering by the crowd and the tables filled with environmental literature and placards.

“I think it is sad that we’re harming the environment,” she said. “There’s not going to be anything left.”

Mark Felt, 21, of Mission Viejo also was riding a bike when he stopped by.

“It makes me mad. I’ve grown up around the ocean and it’s sad to see what is happening to it,” he said.