Oil Tanker ‘Fairways’ Off Calif. Coast Studied by U.S.

Responding to complaints that federal officials have done little to reduce the threat of a major oil spill off the coast of California, President Bush said Friday that his Administration is taking “a whole new look” at proposals to protect the nation’s shores.

In particular, Bush said in an interview with reporters, Administration officials are studying a proposal to set up shipping lanes between Los Angeles and San Francisco that will minimize the possibility of a tanker’s running into offshore oil platforms.

The President said he has instructed the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy and Transportation departments to determine “whether there is a way to shift the shipping lanes to avert proximity to the beaches as much as possible.”

When asked about last month’s Huntington Beach oil spill, Bush said he had been told that the accident would do little permanent damage. “I hope that proves to be right for the people of Huntington Beach,” the President said.

Bush made his comments after two environmental groups issued a warning that oil industry executives and government officials have neglected to protect the California coastline and Eastern Seaboard from a disaster similar to last year’s Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

In separate studies released Wednesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Marine Conservation said that the heavy oil tanker traffic between Los Angeles and San Francisco and in New York’s harbors make a major spill inevitable.

However, Bush said that government officials are “working closely with the environmental officials in the state of California” to avoid the possibility of oil spills off the coastline.

“But, if you’re saying to me, can the federal government guarantee that no tanker will ever again have a leak or spill oil, no, I can’t do that,” he said. “But we can go the extra mile in terms of environmental protection, safeguarding the sea lanes and all of that.”

Coast Guard officials said that last April they issued a request for a change in their rules to allow creation of “a shipping fairway system” off the California coast. The fairways would be highways at sea, restricting ships to designated areas away from oil platforms.

“The idea is to reduce the possibility of collisions at sea,” said Cmdr. John McElwain, a Coast Guard spokesman.

But, in hearings held in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Barbara, the idea was criticized by environmental groups concerned about the damage the system would inflict on fish and wildlife in the proposed shipping lanes, McElwain said.

Their concerns have led to additional Coast Guard studies to determine the environmental impact of the project, he said.

“We are doing what we consider to be good work to take into consideration what the environmental groups came up with,” he added. “Nothing has been decided yet. After all the studies come in, we will do a re-think and come up with other proposals.”