Navy Says It May Open Up Offshore Areas for Drilling

Under pressure from the Interior Department and members of Congress, military officials said Monday in Laguna Niguel that they are willing to reconsider opening areas off the California and Gulf coasts, now off limits because of defense operations, to oil and gas exploration.

Deputy Assistant Navy Secretary Wayne Arny told oil industry officials that vast tracts off much of San Diego, Orange and Ventura counties could be reexamined, including sensitive submarine lane areas off San Diego Harbor and tracts off the Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

The Navy already has advised the Interior Department that it would have no objection to leasing tracts off most of southern Orange County and near Camp Pendleton in northern San Diego County, said Arny, the Navy’s principal official for shipbuilding and logistics.

These were among wide areas held off limits to drilling for military reasons last summer when Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel was negotiating a now-scuttled agreement with California congressmen to open 2% of the state’s coastal waters to drilling.

“We are completely backing off any moratorium,” Arny told members attending the National Ocean Industries Assn. fall conference Tuesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel.

Arny said the only area that will remain totally off limits is the San Nicolas Basin, several hundred square miles west of San Clemente Island and south of San Nicolas Island needed for live torpedo firing practice and other training maneuvers.

“It’s the beginning of an important dialogue,” said Charles B. Matthews, president of the 13-year-old trade association.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Long Beach), who had pressed the Defense Department to consider opening areas off San Diego to oil exploration, said he is pleased that military officials are showing the first signs of “flexibility” on the issue.

“This gives us greater ability to negotiate with the secretary of the Interior,” said Lungren, who appeared with Arny and Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Daniel B. Denning for a panel discussion on balancing national security and energy interests offshore.

In some areas, “training needs will require exclusive use” by the military, Denning said. But accommodation is possible in others.

“There’s going to have to be a give and take between industry and government on this, and there may have to be a give and take between individual companies as well,” Denning said.

Arny said the Navy is “willing to move submarine corridors” off San Diego harbor, an area now excluded for military reasons that is thought to have a very high potential for oil reserves. “It’s not that easy to do. It’s expensive and it takes time. But we are willing to do it.”

At the same time, Arny put industry officials on notice that the San Nicolas Basin farther offshore would be needed permanently for training. “In return for this,” he said, “I’ve said I would end any overt or covert support for the moratorium.”

The Navy soon will provide the Interior Department with a list of offshore areas that could be considered for oil explorations, Arny said.