U.S. Announces Delay in Offshore Drilling Plans

Federal authorities Thursday announced a delay in plans for offshore oil drilling along the Southern California coast, but it remained unclear what effect the freeze would have.

Officials said the planning process was put on hold so the new Administration can review and evaluate the proposal, which includes more than 1,300 tracts from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border.

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) had revealed details of the decision Wednesday after a meeting with officials from the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Agency, which is pushing for oil exploration off the coast. Interior officials, however, put off the official announcement until Thursday.

Time to Review

Jim Cason, acting deputy assistant Interior secretary, ordered the freeze “so that we might have an opportunity to brief the incoming Administration and give them time to review and assess recommendations,” said Robert E. Coleman, minerals management service director.

Officials said the decision delays the final identification of the area to be studied during an environmental review that must be conducted before tracts can be leased under the proposal, dubbed Lease Sale 95. Interior Department officials had been expected to reveal this week what tracts would be included in the sale.

Coleman said the final scope of Lease Sale 95, tentatively scheduled for early 1990, would be announced after consultation with Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr., who was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday.

A Department of the Interior official said there was “no way of knowing” whether the freeze might delay the lease sale. “It depends how (Bush Administration officials) absorb these recommendations and react to them,” he said.

Federal officials announced the massive oil-lease sale in mid-1987, but it was immediately challenged by state and local officials in California, who contend offshore oil drilling would pose environmental hazards, clog sea lanes and threaten tourism.