Playing the Bully

Of all the outrageous acts committed against California by Reagan Administration secretaries of the interior since 1981, possibly the most outrageous is Secretary Donald P. Hodel’s move to strip the California Coastal Commission of any control over offshore oil development. Hodel has accused the commission of “usurping” federal authority, thus endangering the Reagan Administration’s “commitment to promote a free society.”

The Coastal Commission’s crime is making certain that the Administration’s zest for drilling in federal waters off the California coast does not get out of control and damage the coastal environment. This not only is a legitimate role for the commission to have, the commission--originally created by voter initiative--would be abdicating its responsibility if it did not pursue it with vigor.

Offshore oil rigs are not islands unto themselves. They are industrial complexes that are inextricably linked to the land through pipelines, onshore processing facilities and air pollution. Oil spills would flow in just one direction--to the coast.

The commission exercises certain controls over offshore activities under state law and the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. If the federal government finds that the commission has exceeded its authority, the Commerce Department can prohibit it from enforcing environmental controls under the federal coastal act. Hodel, complaining that the state has gotten too tough on the rigs, has asked Commerce to start this process.

This insulting act comes from an Administration that pretends to be the guardian of states’ rights, and from an interior secretary who has boasted about the environmental safety of the offshore oil industry and who has pledged to work with the state to make certain that no environmental disaster could occur.

Hodel has failed to persuade Californians that they should be happy to see more drilling rigs off their coast, so now he is playing the role of federal bully--the very role that President Reagan finds so abhorrent. This is government by spiteful fiat. And that has no place in a free society.