State to Oppose Coastal Drilling

Gov. Gray Davis’ administration unveiled a broad plan Tuesday to block efforts to dramatically expand oil and gas drilling in 40 underwater tracts.

Comparing the coast to an inviolable treasure, Davis said California is no place to build new offshore oil drilling platforms or beachfront processing plants.

His remarks, contained in a strongly worded letter delivered to the California Coastal Commission Tuesday by his resources secretary, Mary Nichols, directs his environmental lieutenants to thoroughly scrutinize the proposals and identify all possible options to prevent new coastal drilling. Davis also said he would tell the Clinton administration that California intends to pursue “whatever legal or regulatory action is available” to protect the coast from oil exploration.

The comments are the strongest yet from the Democratic governor, a longtime opponent of oil drilling, and signal that drilling proponents in the Interior Department and the oil industry face formidable and broad opposition from California’s elected officials.

“Some of these platforms are 50 years old,” Nichols said, gesturing toward a cluster of oil rigs in the ocean outside the hotel window where the commission met. “It does not mean they are entitled to live forever. Life has changed. California has changed.”

The meeting marks the opening act in what is shaping up to be a long and politically charged drama over the future of the Central Coast and the fate of 40 sea bottom oil tracts that have never been brought into production. Oil companies paid at least $1.2 billion as long ago as 1968 for the option to drill in those areas and they are now seeking approval to proceed.

Oil industry officials acknowledge they face an uphill fight.

“It’s never been easy. It’s a difficult political climate. The opposition is stronger now,” said Ron Heck of Santa Barbara-based Samedan Oil Corp., which wants to begin producing oil from tracts near Goleta by 2007.

Indeed, members of the Democrat-dominated Coastal Commission expressed little desire to expand offshore drilling.

“Why do we take all this risk if it’s such a minute part of our energy consumption?” asked Commissioner Patrick Kruer of San Diego. About 5.6% of the oil consumed by Californians comes from the offshore rigs.

Davis directed Nichols to ensure that state agencies scrutinize all past actions on each of the leases to determine if their operation would be consistent with California’s coastal plan. Virtually all the leases were issued to oil companies without undergoing such a review.

Davis also urged the Coastal Commission to consider what cumulative effects development of the leases would have on the state’s environment and economy. He indicated that absent such a review, he does not believe the 40 leases merit extensions necessary to begin new drilling. Although the undeveloped tracts are more than three miles out in waters governed by the Interior Department, the state Coastal Commission has power under federal law to block drilling. The 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act grants states with federally approved coastal management plans the ability to regulate federal activities along their shores using a process called “consistency review.”

Oil companies can appeal a decision by California to deny offshore drilling to the commerce secretary.

The Davis administration is hoping to demonstrate that changes in California--including a booming coastal tourist industry and the establishment of national parks, marine sanctuaries and new rules and regulations since the oil leases were issued between 1968 and the mid-1980s--now make offshore drilling inconsistent with other activities on California’s coast.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service is poised to grant permission after June 30 to seven companies to press ahead with plans to develop the leases, which are strung along the coast from Port Hueneme to Lompoc to Santa Maria. Most are off San Luis Obispo County.

Renewed exploration could begin later this year and four new platforms could be installed beginning in 2005. Underwater tracts off the Ventura County coast and near Point Conception could be tapped as early as 2002, using long-reach wells operated from existing platforms.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Offshore Oil

Plans for oil exploration and drilling of 40 undeveloped leases in federal waters off the Central Coast have environmentalists and many state lawmakers upset. The California Coastal Commission began delving into the issue Tuesday.