Senate Offshore Oil Swap Plan Enrages Ecologists

Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy took credit Wednesday for U.S. Senate approval of a measure to stop an acceleration of offshore oil drilling in Southern California--only to discover later that the measure may threaten another prized waterway in Alaska that environmentalists want to protect.

The measure angered environmentalists and immediately became an issue in the Senate campaign between McCarthy and Republican Sen. Pete Wilson.

Wilson attacked McCarthy on the issue, but it turned out he had spoken on behalf of the measure on the Senate floor before learning it could accelerate drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay.

McCarthy flew to Washington on Wednesday to announce California’s reprieve at a joint press conference with the plan’s sponsor, Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La). Johnston had initially proposed moving up a scheduled 1990 Southern California oil lease sale by a year to raise money lost by the recent delay of another lease sale in Northern California. He said at the press conference that McCarthy had persuaded him to drop that plan.

But in return for dropping the Southern California acceleration, Johnston proposed and won approval of a measure that would raise the money in a way that environmentalists charged would accelerate oil drilling in Bristol Bay. Bristol Bay is home to many endangered species as well as a $1-billion-a-year commercial fishing industry, and conservationists and fishermen have fought for years to prevent drilling there.

McCarthy, however, said later that he had been unaware that Bristol Bay would be substituted for Southern California and never discussed the issue with Johnston. He added that he opposes drilling in Bristol Bay.

Wilson charged that McCarthy had been “rather badly suckered” by Johnston, a longtime proponent of offshore oil drilling. Wilson admitted, however, that he, too, initially had not understood that dropping the Southern California plan could mean accelerating drilling in Bristol Bay and therefore had raised no objection to it on the Senate floor.

Lisa Speer, a senior staff scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental group, said the Senate action, if upheld by a conference committee, will “severely damage or render moot altogether” a lawsuit by the group against the Interior Department to stop the Bristol Bay sale.

“This is very damaging and it really does sort of knock the knees out from under our case,” Speer said.

Speer said Johnston’s action apparently will nullify a court injunction won by the Natural Resources Defense Council to postpone drilling pending further arguments. Jeff Arnold, who represents the Interior Department before Congress on oil drilling issues, said he also thought the intent of the amendment was to remove the injunction.

Called Bookkeeping Changes

Johnston, however, insisted that the measure would only involve “bookkeeping” changes. McCarthy said in an interview that he has asked attorneys to examine the measure to determine just how Bristol Bay will be affected.

The move also took environmentalists by surprise. Robert Hattoy, regional director for Southern California for the Sierra Club, said the organization would not have supported the move had it realized the potential effect on Bristol Bay.

“You don’t sacrifice one member of the family to protect another member of the family,” Hattoy said. “I would not have agreed to . . . save Southern California at the expense of Alaska. I would have fought for all or nothing.”

Hattoy, whose organization has endorsed McCarthy, said he believes that McCarthy “was trying to be a leader in protecting Southern California” but got “broadsided” by Johnston and the Interior Department.

The Senate action came shortly after McCarthy met privately with Johnston, who had proposed last month that exploration off many areas of the California coast begin next year. Saying that the meeting changed his view of the drilling plan, Johnston offered a measure on the Senate floor that puts off the lease sales scheduled for an area extending from the Santa Barbara Channel to Mexico.

The measure, designed to offset the loss of about $110 million expected from Southern California lease sales with Bristol Bay revenue, was approved by a unanimous voice vote after little discussion.

Political Motivation Told

Johnston said McCarthy persuaded him that the Southern California acceleration was neither economically nor environmentally sound and that the next President should have the chance to develop an energy policy of his own. Johnston also acknowledged that helping McCarthy in his campaign against Wilson was “an important motivation” for the switch.

McCarthy, who has been battling Wilson for the support of environmentalists, insisted that he had not been duped. He said there was no reason for him to suspect that Johnston’s concession on Southern California could harm Bristol Bay. He said he did not realize that the decision involved a possible exchange until it was mentioned at the press conference and added that he is not yet convinced that drilling in Bristol Bay will result from Johnston’s action.

Attempting to turn the issue back at Wilson, McCarthy questioned why Wilson stood on the Senate floor Wednesday morning and expressed support for Johnston’s measure without fully understanding it.

“Sen. Wilson as an incumbent senator did not ask to look at the language,” McCarthy said in a telephone interview at the Denver airport during a stopover on his way back to California. “That’s not very responsible.”

Wilson said he learned of Johnston’s proposal only Wednesday morning while he was washing his hands in the men’s room in the Senate and saw senators debating the issue on a bathroom attendant’s portable television. The senator said he went to the floor, received assurances that Southern California would be spared, and then spoke briefly in favor of the proposal. At the time, he said, he was unaware precisely of what “the offset” for Southern California would involve. He said he left the floor immediately, without voting. The measure won on a voice vote.

Characterized as Transparent

Wilson said he was not notified of the McCarthy-Johnston press conference and called their agreement “the most transparent kind of political ploy.”

“It looks to me like a desperate trip to Washington to stand at the side of the foremost proponent of oil drilling in the Senate,” Wilson said in an interview.