As President Bush ponders the future of offshore oil drilling in Southern California, the message from Orange County residents who suffered the effects of a major spill just two months ago rings loud and clear: no new oil platforms in our back yard.

The recent Huntington Beach spill, which dumped 394,000 gallons of Alaskan crude oil into local waters, fouled 20 miles of shoreline, killed hundreds of marine birds and has left a lasting impression on many county residents, a Times Orange County Poll on the environment has found. The accident has also fueled concerns about the safety of oil drilling and shipping in general, particularly off the Orange County coast.

"What happened really scared me," said Mary MacDonald, 65, a retired schoolteacher in San Juan Capistrano who participated in the poll. "I'd rather be producing our own oil than buying it from foreign countries, but we need to be careful about what we're doing."

Eight in 10 residents believe the Feb. 7 tanker spill caused significant environmental damage and dealt a blow to the beach economy, according to the poll conducted by Mark Baldassare & Associates. Despite officials' pronouncements that the spill caused no lasting harm, one in four in the poll described the damage as "major."

Two out of three Orange County residents are more concerned about oil shipping and drilling than they were before the Huntington Beach spill, according to the poll, while eight in 10 worry that history will repeat itself with another large spill off the Orange County coast.

"I know the Huntington Beach oil spill had to do with shipping oil and not drilling, but the thing is, if those platforms are right out there, the chance of having another spill or something going wrong offshore is a lot higher," said Dawna Brady, 18, a receptionist in San Clemente. "I drive up the coast, see them (oil platforms) and wonder, 'now what's going to happen with those?' "

Pollster Baldassare said the results show that opposition to oil drilling appears to have reached a "high-water mark."

"It's partly because of the spill off the coast of Huntington Beach," he said. "But there also appears to be a growing consensus that offshore oil drilling, at least off the coast of Orange County, may not be worth the environmental hazards."