Lease Postponement Pleases Foes of Oil Drilling Along Coast

Orange County opponents of offshore oil drilling said they were “very pleased” with a key congressional committee’s vote Thursday postponing lease sales of offshore tracts until after the next presidential election.

“It buys us time,” explained Laguna Beach City Councilman Robert F. Gentry, one of three representatives of a coalition of Orange County coastal cities that had lobbied intensely in Washington this week for a moratorium on oil and gas exploration off California.

Although the Orange County representatives didn’t win the outright ban on offshore development they sought, Gentry said the effect is the same.

“It walks and talks like a mora torium, but it’s not a moratorium,” he noted.

Oil industry representatives reacted angrily to Thursday’s vote. Michael P. Fergus, public affairs representative for the Western Oil and Gas Assn. in Los Angeles, said the decision was “in effect a veiled moratorium until 1989,” and he criticized panel members for ignoring the importance of California’s offshore oil reserves in the nation’s energy future.

Thursday’s compromise in the House Appropriations Committee, appeared to head off a fierce battle between those intent on ending the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and those who favor protecting environmentally sensitive, scenic coastal areas.

House Vote Needed

The bill, an amendment to the Interior Department’s fiscal 1986-87 budget bill, must still be ratified by the full House.

Thursday’s development is the latest round in a yearlong series of compromise agreements and collapsed talks between Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel and anti-drilling members of California’s congressional delegation.

Under a now-dead plan reached last July, 1,350 square miles off California, including 54 square miles off Orange County, could have been leased in exchange for protecting 58,800 square miles of ocean floor from drilling through the year 2000.

Recent negotiations between Hodel and an 18-member congressional delegation, which were aimed at developing a new plan for the California coast, collapsed last week, amid finger pointing from both sides. Anti-drilling forces then began efforts to revive the moratorium.

The compromise plan reached Thursday would postpone lease sales in Northern and Southern California for one year until 1989. But the plan allows Hodel to go forward with pre-leasing activities, such as preparing environmental impact assessments and querying industry for interest.

Local proponents of offshore oil drilling vowed Thursday to press for future exploration, despite the House panel’s action.

“I’m pleased to see that there is no moratorium . . . aand that all of the activity preparatory to lease sales can go forward,” said Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), who favors increased offshore oil exploration.

Dannemeyer, who describes himself as an advocate for “energy independence for America,” said the compromise has further delayed decisions on developing oil and gas reserves in federal waters offshore.

Continuing Work

“Sooner or later we’re going to have to face the reality of a vote on this issue,” Dannemeyer said. “But I am pleased that a moratorium is not a part of this compromise.”

Western Oil and Gas Assn. spokesman Fergus noted that since the Interior Department will go forward to develop a five-year lease schedule, much of the government and industry plans will be in place well in advance of 1989.

Yet anti-drilling forces and environmentalists hailed the vote as a victory, however modest.

“Our fight to prevent drilling off (Orange) county’s shore is not over, but we have won some time, we have won a victory,” Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) said.

“Effectively speaking, it’s a moratorium until 1989,” said Packard, who has actively opposed efforts to allow near-shore oil exploration off his coastal district, which includes southern Orange and northern San Diego counties.

Before leaving Washington after the committee’s vote Thursday, Gentry said: “The extra time is very important to us. What happens in 1988 is a presidential election, and that election is key to the California coast. We will have a new secretary of the Interior and a new President with, hopefully, a new philosophy about the environment.”