Van de Kamp Will Sue to Halt Offshore Drilling

Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp will join environmental groups in filing lawsuits to stop federally approved test drilling for oil off California’s coast, officials said Wednesday.

“The (attorney general’s) lawsuit is expected to be filed within the next week or so,” Assistant Atty. Gen. Theodora Berger said. She said a coalition of environmental groups led by the Natural Resources Defense Council and an alliance of coastal government agencies will file companion legal actions.

Plans for the suit were unveiled at a press conference at which Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) announced that a group of state senators opposes the Reagan Administration’s five-year plan to lease offshore oil and gas tracts to private companies.

The plan, outlining a leasing program that would run from 1986 through 1991, was released in March and distributed to coastal states for review and comment by Monday.

Calls It ‘Irresponsible’

Roberti called the plan an “irresponsible program” that threatens tourism and recreation and commercial and sport fishing and poses dangers to air and water quality.

“Reckless offshore energy development puts at risk billions of dollars and millions of jobs associated with California’s thriving coastal economy,” said Roberti, who said that the renewed pressure for drilling is coinciding with a glut of oil and gas and decreased domestic demand for petroleum products.

He released a letter to Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel signed by 10 Democratic senators and one Republican, Sen. Milton Marks of San Francisco, protesting that the plan would open certain environmentally sensitive areas off the coast that are now protected by a congressional ban on drilling.

They said Hodel had suggested that drilling would never be allowed in such areas. They also claimed that issuance of permits, allowing the test drilling of 32 holes from Santa Cruz to the Oregon line, suggests otherwise.

Critical of Hodel

The senators criticized Hodel for ignoring the will of Congress, which has imposed a moratorium on drilling in environmentally sensitive coastal areas.

Berger said the suit will be filed in U.S. District Court against the Interior Department and McClelland Engineering Inc. of Ventura, which is scheduled to begin geological drilling in June at sites off the Northern California shoreline. The suit will allege violations of federal environmental law.

Berger said that financing for the suit will come from the attorney general’s budget and that Van de Kamp will be acting with independent powers given him by the state Constitution to take legal action even when he is not representing another state agency.

The state Environmental Affairs Agency is in the process of completing its analysis of the Interior Department’s plan and is expected to report to Gov. George Deukmejian within a week. Deukmejian has not opposed offshore oil drilling, adopting a policy of negotiating environmental controls with the Interior Department rather than pursuing legal remedies.