Panel Weighs Local Smog Controls for Offshore Rigs

A Bush Administration task force on offshore drilling is seriously considering a proposal to subject oil platforms off the Southern California coast to pollution regulations set by local authorities, according to a task force document and sources close to the panel.

The extensive attention being given to the proposal, which primarily would affect new offshore oil platforms, provides another strong indication that the task force will urge the government to reaffirm its plans for further drilling off the Southern California coast.

A decision to tighten pollution-control regulations for such rigs could help minimize opposition to any offshore drilling recommended by the task force.

It also would signal a victory for the South Coast Air Quality Management District and other governmental units, which have sought to wrest control over offshore emissions from the less-restrictive Interior Department.

Short of Outright Moratorium

If issued in conjunction with an endorsement of new oil exploration, however, it would fall short of the outright moratorium advocated by anti-drilling forces.

“Making offshore rigs subject to local rules would simply indicate that they got a firm grasp on the obvious,” said Leslie Gainer, a spokesman for the environmentalist American Oceans Campaign. “What they need to do is set aside areas for permanent protection (from) leasing.”

A task force progress report, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, makes no formal recommendations and simply describes the pollution-control plan as one of several options under consideration as ways to reduce the environmental consequences of any new drilling.

Report to President Bush

But Administration officials said the proposal is under serious consideration and indicated that it is likely to be adopted as part of the panel’s recommendations in a final report to President Bush at the end of the year.

Because most existing offshore oil rigs in the Los Angeles area are situated in waters already subject to local control, the plan would be of great significance only if new drilling was to proceed in additional areas controlled by the federal government.

In that case, an AQMD official said Thursday, emissions from new drilling platforms off Southern California could spew more than 16 tons of smog-producing pollutants into the atmosphere each day by early in the next century unless the air quality board gains regulatory authority.

The Administration panel, chaired by Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., was directed to determine whether the government should proceed with its controversial drilling plans off Southern California and in other areas off Northern California and south Florida.

Progress Report

Its progress report, which is to be published in the Federal Register today, states that the panel is still considering all options presented to it. They range from imposing a permanent ban on oil exploration in the areas to allowing the Interior Department to proceed unhindered with its drilling plans.

Most of the document, however, is devoted to discussion of measures that would allow oil exploration to proceed, albeit with more stringent controls than now exist. Some of the plans mentioned would prohibit drilling in certain areas, but most would add new regulations designed to protect the environment.

In discussing the Southern California area, officials said, the task force has devoted the bulk of its time to options designed to minimize air pollution caused by new drilling in the region.

“I don’t think there’s any question that air quality is the primary issue in the public mind,” said Richard Glynn, the panel’s deputy executive director.

A task force decision to recommend new drilling in Southern California would come as little surprise to anti-drilling activists, who have charged that the panel is predisposed to favor oil exploration. In addition, many have acknowledged that the proposed Southern California offshore exploration area is the least environmentally sensitive of those under scrutiny.

Approval Uncertain

Whether the pollution-control plan is ultimately approved could depend largely on the efforts of the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service, which currently regulates emissions from oil rigs drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf.

Seeking to maintain that control, the agency earlier this year proposed tightening its own regulations. But even that effort has come under fire from local officials, who contend that the measures remain inadequate.

Another potential stumbling block could arise in late October, when the National Academy of Sciences provides the panel with an advisory report on oil exploration. If the scientific body raises strong objections to further drilling, the task force could be forced to reconsider its recommendations.

A South Coast AQMD official reaffirmed Thursday that the district would like the authority to control oil rig emissions if Bush proceeds with proposals to drill off the Southern California coast.

“We believe that we need to have stringent controls over offshore platforms,” said spokesman Bill Kelly. “One of our concerns is how do we get those stringent controls in place when we don’t have authority to do it?”

Small Contributors

The emissions from oil rigs would be only a small fraction of the 7,700 tons of pollutants spewed into the Los Angeles Basin each day by cars, industries, airplanes and other sources. But most pollution sources are by themselves relatively small contributors.

“It’s a small amount, but the problem is that everywhere we look, the amounts are small with the exception of the car,” Kelly said. “It’s important that we get the reductions wherever we can. If we have the technology to reduce pollution, we need to put it in place, and for offshore oil drilling, there is the technology.”

Proposed oil drilling lease sales for Southern California call for about 10 to 15 drilling platforms with 30 to 40 wells each, Kelly said.

Jehl reported from Washington and Dolan from Los Angeles.