Reconsider oil-drilling deal,

Bordonaro asks UCSB

This week, Bordonaro said that the proposed project could bring money to the school, the county, and the state, and UCSB shouldn't have rejected the offer.

He's working with fellow Republicans to have Mobil and school officials meet again and see if they can come to an agreement. UCSB officials haven't warmed up to the idea.

Mobil Oil leases 17 acres of university-owned land near the college to store oil coming from its oil platform offshore.

Mobil wants to change its lease to allow them to drill into the channel from the onshore site instead. The project would be called Clearview.

In 1994 and again in June, college officials rejected the change.

Then Mobil offered UCSB an estimated $53 million over 30 years in oil royalties.

``It's not money to just shake your fist at,'' said Bordonaro on Wednesday. ``When you're in financial difficulty (like the state is), you need to be creative.

``Nobody wants us to raise student fees or cut back our universities.''

But campus leaders don't think the deal is as attractive as the assemblyman does.

Bob Kuntz, UCSB's vice chancellor of budget and planning, says the drilling would be incompatible and dangerous so close to the school.

University officials also have plans to build faculty housing within 500 feet of the proposed drilling site. Last year, the school's professors brought in $80 million in research grants, said Kuntz, and keeping UCSB an attractive place for facutly to move is a priority.

He noted that the $53 million offer breaks down to about $1.8 million a year, if that.

The royalty estimate is based on the prediction that oil prices will more than triple, he said, and there's no guarantee that Mobil will find as much oil as they hope.

``It's a lottery ticket,'' Kuntz said, ``not an offer.''

But Bordonaro thinks the issue is bigger than faculty housing. ``There's a lot of financial stake in this,'' he said. ``It means jobs for the district and it means an income for the county and the state.''

Bordonaro, who is a member of the Assembly's higher education committee, says it bothers him that the college isn't willing to supplement its income.

``When they come to us moaning and groaning about needing more funds, I'm going to say, `You remember Clearview?' ''

Some people have seen that as a threat to the university's future funding from the state.

But Bordonaro said he's not threatening the school, he's just disappointed it shut the door on Mobil.

If UCSB approved the Clearview project, Bordonaro said, it wouldn't set a precedent or force other colleges to accept deals from private companies to supplement their budgets.

Some people have claimed that Bordonaro is working in Mobil's favor and should focus on his own district.

Goleta resident Harry Nelson lives less than a mile from the proposed site. He says Bordonaro is using his position on the Assembly's higher education committee to intimidate UCSB and help Mobil get a ``sweetheart'' drilling deal.

``Why is he (Bordonaro) doing the bidding of a huge oil corporation based near Washington, D.C.?'' Nelson asked in a recent letter to the editor. ``Why isn't he spending his time on the concerns of his constituents in the 33rd District?''

Bordonaro represents the northern section of Santa Barbara County, but not the area of the university. He says, however, that what happens at UCSB effects the people of his district as well as the financial health of Santa Barbara County and the state.