Colleague Blasts Panel Members on Drilling Suit

A top Deukmejian Administration official blasted fellow members of the state Lands Commission on Thursday for voting to file a lawsuit aimed at stopping the U.S. Interior Department’s plan to permit oil drilling off the coast of California.

Finance Director Jesse R. Huff, an appointee of Gov. George Deukmejian, predicted that such a lawsuit would be frivolous and might endanger the Administration’s negotiations with the federal government to limit the scope of the proposed drilling.

Huff also criticized fellow commission members Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy and Controller Gray Davis, both Democrats, for deciding before the panel’s meeting Thursday to pursue a lawsuit against the federal government. Huff said the pair’s action, which they announced at a news conference Wednesday, was a breach of the spirit, if not the letter, of state open-meeting laws.

Criticized Governor

But McCarthy and Chief Deputy Controller Jim Tucker, representing Davis, defended the votes in favor of the suit and criticized the Republican governor for failing to provide effective leadership on the issue.

The commission’s 2-1 vote came during a private session Thursday morning, when the panel officially asked Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp to prepare a lawsuit to be filed in federal court in Washington. The suit is to allege that the federal government has inadequately studied the potential environmental effects of offshore oil drilling.

Van de Kamp has already said he supports the idea of suing the Interior Department and Secretary Donald P. Hodel to block the plan, under which 1,120 tracts off the California coast can be considered for oil and gas leasing after February, 1989. Each tract covers nine square miles.

The Deukmejian Administration has maintained that any protest to the Interior Department’s five-year plan for oil drilling in federal waters must be made through channels established for review and comment by the states.

‘Very Weak Suit’

“I must object very strongly to the course the commission is considering, and pursuing,” Huff said. “I think basically we have the potential for a very weak lawsuit.

“The (Outer Continental Shelf) Lands Act has a process spelled out in it that as far as I can determine is being followed,” Huff said. “I’m afraid a frivolous lawsuit at this time may in fact jeopardize negotiations that are continuing in this process.”

Huff’s comments “mirrored” Deukmejian’s sentiments on the issue, said Kevin Brett, the governor’s press secretary.

Bill Sessa, spokesman for Deukmejian’s Environmental Affairs Agency, said the Administration is satisfied with the opportunity the state was given to comment during the development of the Interior Department’s plan.

“There are all kinds of environmental considerations in this particular plan that simply did not exist before this plan, even though California had asked for it,” Sessa said.

Lacks Adequate Protection

But McCarthy and Tucker contended that the plan lacks adequate protection for California and criticized Deukmejian for not opposing it.

“The reason the Lands Commission had to act in this area was because of the failure of the governor to provide the kind of leadership California needs on this issue,” Tucker said. “The governor has decided to side with the (Reagan) Administration and the secretary of the interior rather than with the interests of Californians, and the interests of the California coastline.”