U.S. Invites Lease Sale Bids on Coastal Oil, Gas

The U.S. Interior Department on Monday took the first steps that could lead to oil and gas development off the Northern California coast despite a threat by Gov. George Deukmejian to go to court to block the action.

The department’s formal “call for information,” which asks oil companies to nominate tracts for inclusion in a proposed lease sale in April, 1988, covers 1.2 million acres in federal waters off the Mendocino County and Humboldt County coastlines. The department plans to issue a similar call for nominations off Southern California in May.

In Sacramento, the development was greeted with dismay by Deukmejian who, for the first time publicly, said he may sue. At the same time, the Western Oil and Gas Assn., whose members include the major oil companies, complained that the area includes only 4% of the acreage in the Northern California planning area and warned that if those restrictions indicate a trend, the United States will not have the oil and gas it will need by the year 2000.

Deukmejian, speaking to reporters following a speech to the California Community College Trustees Assn. meeting in Sacramento, said, “We’re going to have to consider all of our options. One of them certainly is the possibility of being involved in some litigation,”

Other Groups May Sue

Deukmejian predicted that even if the state decides not to sue, environmental groups may. The governor’s press office said later it could not predict when the state would decide whether to sue.

Last week, Deukmejian wrote Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel, urging that he delay the call until a year from now when Hodel’s new five-year oil and gas development plan is submitted to Congress.