CAMARILLO : Local Jobs Not Target of Federal Cuts

An estimated 108 employees who work for the federal Minerals Management Service in Camarillo probably will not lose their jobs in the wake of a major budget-cutting proposal unveiled this week by the Clinton Administration.

Federal officials say employees assigned to the Camarillo office, which oversees oil and gas production in federal waters, will simply be made employees of another federal unit, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.

“Although it is still early, we doubt the Camarillo unit will suffer any layoffs,” Bob Armstrong, assistant secretary of the interior for lands and minerals, said Tuesday. “In fact, because we value so much what this group does, we are recommending it be transferred to another unit within the department.”

Although final plans still have to be worked out and Congress still must give its blessing, officials of the Clinton Administration said this week that the budget-cutting plan will save more than $13 billion and eliminate about 5,000 jobs from the federal work force over five years.

Other agencies in line for cuts are the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Federal officials say an estimated $69 million would be saved and some 700 jobs would be eliminated just from MMS alone.

J. Lisle Reed, director of the service’s Pacific region, said the current offshore oil- and gas-lease moratorium affecting federal waters is not likely to be lifted or changed as a result of the conversion. He added that he believed the unit will continue to be based out of its Camarillo offices.