The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) is being sued byCalifornia Gov. Gray Davis, the California Coastal Commission andthe state attorney general’s office for granting extensions on 36offshore oil and gas leases. The extentions were granted two weeksago by DOI Secretary Bruce Babbitt.

The governor charges the lease extensions were granted withoutanalyzing the environmental effects under the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act and without first allowing the CoastalCommission to analyze them under the federal Coastal ZoneManagement Act for consistency with state requirements. Under theact the Coastal Commission has the right to review requests forsuspension/extension but the DOI never gave the commission thatopportunity.

The leases in question, which are located off Ventura, SantaBarbara and San Luis Obispo counties in Southern California, wereissued between 15 and 31 years ago at a total cost to producers ofabout $1.2 billion. Since then they have been through theregulatory wringer, including several state and federalenvironmental reviews and multiple suspensions. Nothing has everbeen developed on them, but producers are eager to move forwardwith revised drilling plans. The leases are not subject to thedrilling moratorium that was renewed last year by PresidentClinton. Leaseholders include Aera Energy (Mobil and Shell),Conoco, Nuevo Energy and Noble Affiliates.

The drilling extensions/suspensions issued by Babbitt aredesigned to enable the companies to move forward with their revisedplans, which will be subject to a new environmental analysisconducted by the DOI. In a letter to California Coastal CommissionChair Sara Wan, Babbitt said the environmental reviews on eachlease would take 18 to 45 months.

Gov. Davis and the state’s Coastal Commission previously hadexpressed concerns about expanded offshore drilling, and Babbittsaid last week he shares those concerns, which is why the DOIintends to conduct an environmental review.

“Sharing concerns about offshore drilling and issuing leaseextensions? I don’t know, but they don’t seem to go together,” saidDeputy Attorney General Jamee Jordan Patterson. But that’s not theissue. The problem is the DOI didn’t give the state an opportunityto review the requests for extension, which by law it should havedone, she said.

For some time, Davis had urged the DOI to withhold the leaseextensions in an effort to let the leases expire. Most recently, heinstructed California Resources Secretary Mary Nichols to identifyall legal and administrative actions available to stop offshore oiland gas exploration and production on the 40 undeveloped tracks inthe Outer Continental Shelf off California’s coast.

“I have long been an opponent of offshore oil drilling,” Davissaid. “If it were left up to me I would impose a moratorium onthese leases. A great deal has changed in 30 years which in my mindmeans these leases are out of compliance. We believe their actionsare an incorrect reading of the law. To mix metaphors, Californiais entitled to be the engine, not the caboose on this train. We areentitled to have a say at the beginning of this process, not theend of the process.”

Rocco Canonica

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