‘Very Tough’ on Offshore Oil Drilling, Dukakis Declares

Standing on the Atlantic Coast but with his thoughts straying to the Pacific, Democratic presidential contender Michael S. Dukakis on Monday denounced offshore oil drilling and called for an expanded moratorium on further drilling off the Massachusetts coast.

Dukakis, who has been seeking to establish his environmentalist credentials before the California primary next month, said he believed offshore drilling should be allowed only as a “last resort.”

But though Dukakis first claimed that his position would “in effect” establish a national moratorium on further drilling, he wavered when pressed on the point during a session with reporters at the end of a Boston fish pier.

“I’ll get back to you on that,” Dukakis said.

The Massachusetts governor’s wariness on the issue appeared to reflect a concern about alienating environmentalists, particularly after the Rev. Jesse Jackson Saturday stood atop a Mendocino bluff on California’s North Coast and declared that further offshore drilling was unnecessary.

Not a Total Ban

Dukakis’ deputy issues director, Thomas Herman, said after consultation with the governor later Monday that while Dukakis believes that areas of “critical environmental importance” should be eliminated from consideration in oil lease sales, he would not favor a total ban. Under a Dukakis Administration, Herman said, further lease sales might proceed in areas deemed not environmentally sensitive. He said that offshore drilling could conceivably be expanded in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas where it did not jeopardize the fishing and marine ecology.

In the press conference, Dukakis was unwilling to specify where he thought drilling might be wise. “I tend to be very tough on drilling generally . . . “ he said. “Our backs have to be against the wall before I would justify that.”

Dukakis called for the cancellation of two Interior Department-backed oil lease sales off the Massachusetts coast, reiterated his opposition to proposed Lease Sale 91 off California and endorsed a proposal backed by Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Monterey) that would reestablish the right of the states to review federal lease sales under the Coastal Zone Management Act.

Fervent Opponent

Campaigning in California last week, he portrayed himself as the Eastern counterpart to California state controller Gray Davis, a fervent opponent of offshore drilling. “He is fighting the same fight against the Interior Department on the West Coast that we are on the East Coast,” Dukakis said.

Dukakis had campaigned in his first term as governor in favor of the current limited moratorium on drilling in Georges Bank off Massachusetts, and on Tuesday endorsed a proposal by Rep. Gerry E. Studds (D-Mass) to expand that moratorium to include almost all of the rich fishing zone.

Opening an issue his campaign hopes will help him in the expected general election campaign against Vice President George Bush, Dukakis denounced as “absurd” the Reagan Administration’s plan to make offshore oil a “centerpiece” of the nation’s energy future.

The oil resources on the Georges Bank would last the nation only 11 days, Dukakis contended, while the United States has access to a 300-year supply of coal, 150 years of natural gas and “billions of gallons of oil.”

But the depleted resources of Dukakis’ own state government gave the governor further problems Monday as he faced more questions about how he would adjust to the state’s $270-million revenue shortfall.

Dukakis, promising to produce budget-cutting recommendations for the state Legislature by the end of the week, sought to portray the state’s fiscal difficulties as part of a national trend affecting state budgets across the country.

But he acknowledged that the ambitious expansion of government services his Administration championed earlier this year could not now take place. “That’s reality, and we’re going to have to deal with it,” Dukakis said.