Oil Drilling: Props. O and P

The Times has come up with several bad arguments for supporting Proposition P but your latest is the worst of the lot--that the Oxy project on Pacific Coast Highway would not lead to drilling in the Santa Monica Bay (editorial, “Oil: Yes on P, No on O,” Oct. 30).

In one breath you praise Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) for helping to keep oil out of the bay and in the next you tell him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about in arguing that the Occidental Petroleum project will lead to drilling in the bay.

But if you don’t believe Rep. Levine, how about Sens. Alan Cranston and Pete Wilson? Both of them oppose Occidental’s Proposition P and support Proposition O with the same telling argument--the Oxy project will send a message to the oil lobby in Washington that Los Angeles voters don’t object to oil drilling along the coast. Your statement that it is not on the beach is naive. It’s on the coast and it is so close to the beach that swimmers will be breathing fumes from the well and will get showered with oil if a blowout occurs.

Let’s be realistic and face the facts. Oxy is in the oil business. It is drilling offshore all over the world. So are all the other oil companies. And all of them have been fighting for years for the right to drill in Santa Monica Bay. Give them a “foot-in-the-door” and they’ll be out there next week with their drilling rigs. Look at Santa Barbara if you want to see what happens when one company starts drilling for oil.

TED DANSON

President, American Oceans Campaign

Santa Monica