Delay That Offshore Oil Call : New Drilling Off Our Coast? What’s the Big Emergency?

Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr. is fishing in the wrong waters if he thinks that coastal communities will sell their environmental souls for federal oil dollars. Lujan has suggested that local officials might find oil rigs off their beaches more palatable if they got a chunk of the federal oil royalties. That bait is not likely to tempt anyone in California.

President Bush is expected to announce soon his decision on whether to proceed with deferred lease sales off the coasts of Florida and Northern and Southern California. He has hinted that he will spare Florida, but will not give up on offshore oil altogether. Translation: The oil boys should get ready for a shot at parts of the California coast.

Lujan fueled this speculation with his payoff idea and his proposal that lease sales be limited to very specific areas that have no special environmental sensitivity. The sanctuary idea is not a bad one, but only if the state of California and local coastal governments are full partners in the selection process. And the sanctuaries could be reopened to oil exploration only after an extraordinary process triggered by a true national energy emergency.

If the federal government is to have any credible leasing program in the future, Washington must be willing to share authority with local governments and give real consideration to the serious impacts offshore drilling have on coastal regions, not to mention the disgust they stir in residents of coastal areas. For example, Southern Californians are sure to insist that offshore rigs be required to meet South Coast air-pollution standards, just like any other industry.

But if the Bush Administration really wants to make sense out of this program, the President will delay any decision on offshore drilling until he has received a proposed new national energy plan in December. Without an honest assessment of energy needs, balanced against potential supply from all sources, the Administration cannot possibly argue that national security hinges on drilling in California waters. There just isn’t enough oil out there to support that position any longer.