Reagan Signs Drilling Ban for State’s Northern Coast

President Reagan on Tuesday signed into law a $10-billion Interior Department appropriations bill that prolongs a ban on offshore drilling for oil and gas off the Northern California coast until Oct. 1, 1989.

The measure also provides for a moratorium on oil or gas drilling off the coasts of Florida and Massachusetts, reflecting strong opposition in Congress to the Reagan Administration’s aggressive oil leasing policy.

Both major presidential candidates--Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and Vice President George Bush--had endorsed the drilling moratorium for California’s northern coast.

Hailed Outcome

Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Monterey), who sponsored the extension of the drilling ban in the House, hailed the outcome in a statement.

“After eight years of guerrilla warfare on this issue, the President’s signature finally recognized the strength of the political opposition to offshore drilling,” Panetta said. “There is a strong bipartisan consensus against putting the entire California coast on the auction block at one time,” he added.

Despite the delay in a lease sale off Northern California, Panetta said, the law does not affect the Interior Department’s Oct. 1, 1990, tentative date for a lease sale off the Southern California coast or the March, 1991, date for a lease sale off Central California.

But he said that the law will allow the next President to develop an energy and development policy for the nation that would allow development of resources without affecting sensitive coastal areas.

The Reagan Administration objected strongly to the congressionally imposed moratoriums on the sale of oil leases but was unable to work out a compromise on the issue.

No Debate in Senate

The House approved a conference report on the Interior Department money bill by a vote of 359 to 45 last Sept. 8, while the Senate passed it by voice vote with virtually no debate.

Reagan, who was traveling in New York when he signed the bill, complained that Congress had voted $680 million more than he had asked for Interior Department programs. The President warned that this action cannot be repeated on other appropriations bills without forcing across-the-board cuts in spending under the Gramm-Rudman law.

“This congressional overspending cannot continue,” Reagan said in a statement. He said that remaining appropriations measures should be passed “on time and on budget.”

Reagan also said that Congress had included a ban on exploratory oil drilling in 73 leases already issued near the Florida Gulf Coast, contending that to do so is unfair.

Staff writer Lee May contributed to this story.