‘Never’ to New Offshore Oil Rigs

If there is solidarity within this diverse state on a single environmental issue, it is on drilling for oil in our coastal waters. After California’s monumental drilling wars of the 1970s and ‘80s, the matter seemed to be settled. There would be no new oil rigs along the coast.

Sacramento banned any further drilling within its jurisdiction, up to three miles from the shoreline. In 1990, then-President George Bush imposed a moratorium on any additional leasing of federal oil rights beyond the three-mile limit. The leasing ban was extended to 2012 by President Clinton. A moderate quantity of questionable-quality oil was at issue anyway--hardly worth a big battle.

So it was with some surprise that Californians learned recently that the Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior announced it was prepared to allow oil companies to proceed with new wells in 40 ocean tracts off the coasts of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Some of the wells could be drilled from existing platforms, but four new platforms would rise off the San Luis Obispo County coast.

How could this be? Hadn’t we settled this issue once and for all? Turns out the federal government sold these leases to the oil companies from 1969 to 1984, before the leasing moratorium was imposed. The program required the companies to develop the leases within a specified time or give them up. But that deadline was extended for years pending new environmental studies on the impact of offshore oil production. Those extensions expire June 30. They should not be extended further, and any plans for drilling should be halted.

Gov. Gray Davis has in effect ordered the state Coastal Commission to take whatever action it can to prevent the drilling by fully addressing the potential environmental impacts on the California coast. Federal law does grant states considerable authority over drilling for environmental reasons, even in federal waters, though state objections can be overruled by the Commerce Department. The state Coastal Commission also has authority over construction of coastal facilities needed to bring the oil in from the rigs and process it.

Davis advised Clinton and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt that California would take any action necessary to protect the California coast. The president and the Interior Department could best avoid a battle with the state by canceling the federal leases and repaying the oil companies as necessary for lost expenses.

Oil executives say new technology makes offshore oil drilling far safer than it was in 1969 when a well blew out off Santa Barbara, a disaster that became a major impetus to the environmental movement in the United States. Even so, offshore oil work is still risky business and new platforms are a blight on our coastline. Conservation measures could compensate for any foregone production. California’s position is clear on offshore drilling. It is too great a threat to our coast.