HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Keeps Ties to Anti-Drilling Group

The City Council has again agreed to join other California coastal cities and counties in an effort to prevent further offshore oil drilling.

The council this week unanimously approved $2,500 to continue membership in the Outer Continental Shelf Local Government Coordination Program. The group consists of nine counties and 14 cities, all opposed to more federal leases for offshore drilling.

Huntington Beach has been a member of the program for five years. Santa Cruz County administers the overall activity, which includes monitoring federal proposals for oil drilling along the California coast.

In a letter to Huntington Beach Mayor Peter M. Green, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Gary A. Patton said that continued support of the program is essential to the coastal environment.

“We can’t let the pressure off now,” Patton said. “The Exxon Valdez spill, followed by the significant oil spill off Huntington Beach in Orange County last year, made absolutely clear that we need fundamental changes in the federal government’s outer continental shelf oil exploration and oil production program. . . . Continued funding for this program is truly of vital importance to all our coastal communities.”

The coalition of local coastal governments is seeking a federal law that would prohibit new offshore oil leases. The proposed law is called the National Ocean Protection Act.

The proposed law would permanently outlaw new oil leases. It also would prohibit dumping of wastes into the ocean and seabed mining within 200 miles of the continental United States.