O.C. Officials to Attend Offshore Oil Meeting

Officials from two Orange County cities plan to attend a meeting in San Francisco this week to discuss the federal moratorium on new offshore oil drilling.

The Newport Beach City Council voted Monday to send Councilman John C. Cox Jr. to the session. Laguna Beach Mayor Kathleen Blackburn also plans to attend.

The ban, renewed each year, is in danger of being scrapped after more than a decade, said Cindy King, Laguna Beach’s assistant city manager. That would open the door for oil interests to lobby for new offshore drilling.

Orange County has not been able to create a sanctuary under federal guidelines that would offer permanent protection from new oil leases, as some Northern California cities have done, King said.

The meeting, set for Thursday at the Center for Marine Conservation in San Francisco, is designed as a forum for local officials to discuss the ban and strategize.

“It appears people see the door slightly ajar and are prepared to run in,” said Kevin J. Murphy, Newport Beach’s city manager.

Newport Beach used to contribute to a lobby group for the ban, but “that coalition has disbanded because of a lack of funds and the expected continuation of the moratorium,” Assistant City Manager Ken Delino wrote in a report to the council.

“This is a major issue, I would think, with most of the citizens of Newport Beach,” Councilman Thomas C. Edwards said, citing the potential effects on the environment and property values if the ban were lifted.

The moratorium is scheduled for review in congressional committee hearings in early June.