Drilling Issue Up to Bush Now

What started out as a highly public process of examining the nation’s offshore oil-drilling program has concluded with the printing of a single copy of the final report intended--like some state secret--for the President’s eyes only. As what surely is an unplanned consequence, this just draws attention to one of the big problems with the administration of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) program all along: too much secrecy, too much mystery and too much suppression of information and opinion that might point out environmental dangers in the program.

The presidential task force would say only that it gives Bush a variety of options to consider before deciding the future of oil development off the coasts of California and Florida. But no significance should be read into the fact that the report proposes neither the immediate resumption of leasing nor a permanent ban.

Leasing cannot resume immediately because Congress has declared a one-year moratorium on such activity. And there never was a likelihood of the task force proposing a permanent ban. Besides, the President can decide for himself without taking any of the task force options.

What he should consider are the conclusions of a National Academy of Sciences study conducted for the task force. It found that the Interior Department does not have enough environmental data to proceed with oil production after areas have been leased and drilled. The academy made some excellent points that also should be considered by Rep. George Miller’s (D-Martinez) House subcommittee that is reviewing the leasing process.

Interior now conducts an environmental impact study as part of the preleasing activity. But the National Academy of Sciences noted that it is impossible for the EIS process to be specific about potential environmental hazards because the leasing area is so large--hundreds or thousands of square miles. No one knows just where oil will be found or what problems may be involved in actually producing it and getting it to shore. But by the time the oil actually is discovered, the company has committed so much effort and money to the project, that Interior is reluctant to deny it the right to produce. In fact, it never has. Thus the decision to lease really becomes a de facto decision to develop and produce.

NAS proposed a separation of the leasing phase from production operations, with further environmental studies conducted before production could begin. Another idea, from Miller, bears serious consideration by both Congress and the President: to permanently protect certain sensitive areas through ocean sanctuary legislation. Congress would look at the ocean frontier much as it has the special natural areas on land in providing wilderness protection. This would lessen the automatic opposition to some oil lease sales.

The prudent course for the President would be to work with Congress to modernize the existing law. Only then could he be certain of fulfilling his pledge to resume offshore oil leasing only when he is assured it can be done without undue risk to the environment.