VENTURA : Marine Environment Study Gets Go-Ahead

The California Coastal Commission approved a three-year study Thursday that will examine the state of the marine environment off the coast of Ventura and Los Angeles counties and in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, commission spokesman Jack Liebster said.

The $600,000 study will be funded by Chevron Corp. and its Point Arguello corporate partners in compliance with a condition of a 1993 permit to ship oil by tanker to Los Angeles.

The study will begin next month and run through February, 1997.

The commission also approved Chevron’s request to annually discharge about 49,000 barrels of drilling muds and about 29,000 barrels of drill cuttings off Platform Gail, situated about 11 miles off the coast of Ventura.

The purpose of the coastal study is to record conditions at shoreline sites to be used in the event of an oil spill. The inventory will include wetlands, estuaries and other coastal habitats, and will be conducted by scientists at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara.

UCLA Associate Prof. Richard Ambrose said the study will allow scientists and others to know which coastal habitats are vulnerable in the event of an oil spill.

In a separate proposal, commission staff members recommended approval of the discharge from Platform Gail, saying the discharge produced a smaller threat to the environment than shipping the wastes off the platform.

The oil platform, built in 1987, produces about 4,500 barrels of oil and 20,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day. Chevron’s discharge plan has been approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.