KTLA News: "Mayor Tom Bradley and others discuss off-shore oil drilling" (1974)

[No audio] [Mayor Tom Bradley] The kinds of comments that we've been hearing, and our own suspicions dating back for many weeks and months now. [Bradley] That the Department of the Interior appeared to be, [Bradley] ah, determined to go forward with the drilling. [Bradley] And that, ah, all of the hearings, all of the meetings, were, ah, [Bradley] really a kind of a, [Bradley] show. There was no real opportunity for those of us who represent local government to really have a voice in, in those decisions. [Bradley] Ah. Is it your judgment that, ah, this assessment is correct? And if so, [chuckles] [Bradley] what alternatives is available to us. Are we now limited to lawsuits in order to, ah, get our message across? [Department of Interior Representative] No, I don't think so at all. I think your desire to become involved, to have an input, to have a voice as to what happens in this area is perfectly legitimate. Ah, is in keeping with every study that has been made of offshore drilling, whether by the National Academy of Science, the National Science Foundation, the critique that was attached to the, Study made by the Council on Environmental Quality of the drilling off the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Alaska. In all of those, studies, there were strong recommendations that the states and local governments involved and citizens, in those areas involved be given, ah, [Audio crackling] an institutional sense a voice in how, the final decision is made, and how the policy developed. And so your request, is really, not only legitimate, but is legitimized by every study that's been made. Ah, our critique that's been made of the federal policy. And I think that one of the reasons that, we've had some difficulty in getting, ah, more of a voice, ah, is because you've asked, ah, one very legitimate question. And that is, how does offshore drilling, out of continental shelf drilling, fit into an overall energy policy. There isn't a very good answer to that. And, ah, that question's got to be answered, [Off camera, loud bang and coughing] I think, if it could be. Just as that, the people in the Western Plains states are asking, how does the strip mining of this coal fit into an overall energy policy. And there isn't a very good answer to it. That's one of the reasons, I think that, ah, you're having difficulty, [Dept. of Int. Rep] being heard. But I, this morning as I was leaving there was a release of the, [papers rustling] [Dept. of Int. Rep] Project Independence, and there's a lengthy, [Dept. of Int. Rep] review of it in The New York Times and in the Washington Post. [Dept. of Int. Rep] I think this really is the first step toward the development of a comprehensive overall national energy policy, [Dept. of Int. Rep] that will make sense. And that your request that before these decisions are made, they [off camera, loud bang] be part of this overall policy, [Dept. of Int. Rep] [off camera, loud bang] certainly is legitimate. [Partially unintelligible] move that on the, [Camera noise] [Dept. of Int. Rep] by a group of people concerned about, offshore out of continental shelf drilling. [Dept. of Int. Rep] Ah. And to express that concern to me and then to, [Dept. of Int. Rep] to indicate whether I'm willing to help. I don't even know what it is you want done at this point. [Dept. of Int. Rep] There is a wide divergence of opinion obviously in this room as to approaches that ought to be taken. [Dept. of Int. Rep] All I can do for you is spell out potential approaches ranging from, [Dept. of Int. Rep] Ah, ah, discussing it with the Secretary of Interior to finally, ah, [Unidentified man] You know, are, asking, are we being realistic and, and, and, [Dept of Int. Rep] I think the questions you've asked me, that have been spelled out in these resolutions that I've seen in Mayor Bradley's, [Dept of Int. Rep] ah, letters to the Secretary of Interior, [Dept of Int. Rep] ah, to, [Dept of Int. Rep] one or two members of the Congress, asked very legitimate questions, [Dept of Int. Rep] that ought to be answered. Before any final decision is ever made. And if that takes a delay to get an answer to those questions, then so be it. [Dept of Int. Rep] And what I'm saying is, I'd be glad to help you try to get answers to those questions. [Dept of Int. Rep] Now, if you want me to sit here, having dropped out of the sky about an hour ago, and tell you how I'm going to go about doing that. [Off camera] No, no, sir. [Dept of Int. Rep] I don't, I can't answer your question as to how I'm going to go about doing that. [Off camera, Reporter?] Oh, no. [?] the how is only related to, and you've answered that part, you've said that there are things that can be done. [Camera noise] [Unidentified speaker] The Atlantic Coast, that, that would be very wise take advantage of their, [Camera noise] [Bradlley] And then you get the, the attorneys for all the different cities that are being invited have also been included in that call so that, they can can join in giving us some advice, I would hope. [Unintelligible voices off camera]