Wisdom on the Drilling Front

The oil companies and the Department of the Interior squawked when Congress decided recently to go beyond imposing a one-year moratorium on offshore oil leasing along portions of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The new law also halts pre-lease activity such as the drafting of environmental impact reports. Congress’ rationale was that such activity should stop while a Bush Administration task force studies whether, and at what pace, to proceed with the offshore oil program off the California coast and other regions.

The wisdom of Congress’ action has been demonstrated dramatically already. An agency of the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that Interior lacks sufficient information to proceed with projected oil-drilling leases in two sites off the California coast and one off of Florida. The prestigious National Research Council said that the available scientific knowledge about potential environmental impacts does not provide a basis for deciding whether to proceed with oil exploration, drilling and production.

In some cases, the council found that there was not even enough information to support leasing. The study group also said that the department had failed to adequately consider socioeconomic factors involved in offshore oil activity. This was particularly true of the proposed California lease sales. In recent years, local and state officials from California have presented virtually a united front in contending that the aesthetic blight of offshore oil rigs, and the prospects of a spill, would have a major impact on coastal tourist-related business. Such arguments were ridiculed during California visits by former Secretary Donald P. Hodel.

One offshore oil critic, Andy Palmer of the American Oceans Campaign, said the National Research Council report raises questions about the entire leasing program. While the courts have sided with the Department of Interior on some of the legal challenges to offshore lease sales on the basis of flawed impact studies, most recently in Bristol Bay in Alaska, the impact reports often have glossed over critical issues merely by saying that no significant problem existed. The National Research Council report verifies that this is a casual way to conduct the public’s business when it involves such a sensitive environment as the nation’s coastline.

Any successful offshore drilling program must have considerable public support, including acceptance of the states involved. The Bush task force can perform a true service by recognizing that and suggesting changes in the law that will give the process the credibility it now lacks.