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Bill Would Give States Greater Authority Over Offshore Drilling

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 00:00 CDT

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. _ In a bid to boost domestic energy production, Rep. Richard Pombo introduced legislation Monday to make it easier for companies to drill for oil off the nation's coasts.

The bill, which would also open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil extraction, would allow states that want more oil revenues to break a standing prohibition on most offshore oil drilling.

Conversely, once the blanket federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling ends in 2012, the bill would allow states to individually seek extensions of that ban.

Coastal advocates said the legislation would weaken prohibitions on offshore oil drilling that began in California in 1982 and have since spread to most of the nation.

"You have a carefully constructed assault on every coastal state," said Richard Charter, co-chairman of the National Outer Continental Shelf Coalition. "It's pretty much the oil and gas industry's wish list."

Coastal advocates said the waters off the Florida panhandle, Virginia and Georgia are the most likely to be drilled first if Pombo's legislation becomes law. They fear other states will follow suit.

A spokesman for Pombo, R-Calif., countered that the bill simply transfers control of state's offshore destiny to the states.

Those states that want offshore oil and gas drilling, and the revenues that come with it, can allow rigs in the federal waters off their coasts. Those that don't can petition the federal government for extensions.

"This is a de facto permanent ban off the coast of California for as long as California so desires," said Brian Kennedy.

Californians have been generally opposed to offshore oil drilling since 1969, when an offshore oil well blew out on the Santa Barbara coast, spilling 3.2 million gallons of crude oil.

This summer, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found 53 percent of residents oppose more offshore oil drilling while 41 percent support it. Those numbers have remained relatively stable despite rising energy costs, according to pollster Mark Baldassare.

Warner Chabot, vice president of the Ocean Conservancy, said Pombo's 184-page bill would leave final decisions about offshore oil drilling with the Secretary of Interior. He said he did not trust the current Interior Secretary, Gale Norton, to protect coasts.

"It probably doesn't threaten California's coast immediately, but it takes away a lot of defenses," Chabot said.

"Richard Pombo is trying to change 25 years of policy that deals with the coast of California. It's a huge public policy issue," Chabot added.

The legislation is scheduled to be considered Wednesday by the House Resources Committee, which is chaired by Pombo.

The energy-boosting provisions are included in a budget package that makes it immune from a filibuster in the Senate.

That is significant because senators who favor drilling in the arctic refuge have been unable to gather enough votes to block a filibuster. But they appear to have a simple majority, enough to pass the budget bill.

The Senate version of the budget bill does not include offshore oil language.

Pombo hopes to get the language added when conferees from the House and Senate meet to reconcile differences in the two versions, according to Kennedy.

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(c) 2005, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.).

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Source: Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

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