Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 30

Bureau SeUNeic 'Da tes For Oil Plan Searings By Tom Incantalupo 1 Responding to pressure by coastal states and environmentalists the US Interior Department has postponed the first public bearings on its plans for massive increases oyer the next few years in the sale of offshore oil drilling rights Dates for the hearings first scheduled to begin this month were announced yesterday by the department bureau of land management: Dec 2 and in Santa Monica Calif Dec 4 and 5 in Anchorage Alaska and Decll Mid 12 in Trenton NJ Hearing! far Public Comments The hearings required1 by the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act are for public comments on aprelimShaiy environmental impact statement on offshore oil 'drilling The statement details department plans that will more' than the amount of underwater acreage' opened for' oil and gas drilling each year to about 10000000 acres for the next several yearn Tentative plans call for some' of the new acreage to be in an area off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware beginning about 60 miles south of Long Island Persons wishing to epeak at the hearings must register by mail with the bureau by Nov 22 Copies of the draftenvi-ronenental impact statement were made available last ted at the regional office at 90 Church St New York City 1 Environmentalists in Washington and Long Island criticized the department for the scheduling of the bearings and for choosing Trenton as the only blast Coast location One critic was Barbara Heller of the Environmental Policy Center a Washington-based group that has submitted testimony during post hearings on ril drilling January 'Called Preferable would prefer to see them in die said-yesterday referring to the hearings I flunk the key thing now is not only that there is not enough time but not enough hearings We expect to have all the people along the East Coast who want-to testify come to a place os far away as A spakeonan for the-bureau Jim Robinson said that Trenton was chosen as a central location for the Atlantic states and that bureau officials frit the Holiday Inn there which has facilities for-350 to 400 persons to attend the hearings would be sufficient Another critic was Claire Stem of the Long Island EnvironmenftriCopnciI who said her group was now reviewing the statement and planned to testify in Trenton The bearings are significant for Long Islanders because they are the first to be scheduled by a federal agency since -Interior officials announced last inoiith that they 'hoped to sell drilling rights to about 3500000 acres south of Long Island next year in the so-called Baltimore Canyon Trough area of the Atlantic NEWSDAY WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER If 74 First Hearings on Controversial Plan "In addition the hearings are the first on lO-OOOOOOocre-a-year plan Originally proposed by former Precddent Nixon the plan has cone under severe criticism by envircnmentalista For example in a final report released lest month the Ford Energy Policy project said it doubted whether that much acreage coulcj ns developed safely And the Interior pwn environmental impact tatwnwit says: is our conclusion based on past performance that sooner or later a major spill wili pocu wherever there is eignlfiwmt development qf offshore exploration and production in potential areas We are certain that thousands of manor spills will 1 Pant Reached at Ch 67 -s' Central A contract settlement- was reached at fhaiwirf 67 yesterday afternoon' permitting Long only commercial television station to cany out its first -election coverage with a full staff 1 The three-year agreement between and 12 news employes represented by" Local ll'of the National Association of Broadcast IknpIoyeS'ahd Technicians provides rica of $185 for a five-dayweefc A muon source said that -increments will be provided at six-month intervals Hignlimmi of $270 The agreement is retroactive to "Sept News editor Jeff Seideman Huct ralmlBS ranged from $80 far one reporter to $150 for announcers for a five-day week David FoUinger the statkm president wduld not provide figures Had there been a strike ihanagrinenl would hm filledin'to provide election coverage Rings pictured at Herald Square only Other comparable selections at the Macy's near you Fine Jewelry Dept 189 Macy's Roosevelt Field i Huntington South Short Mall Smith Haven and Massapequa.