Bush won’t fight California offshore drilling ban

by The Associated Press

The Bush administration dropped its challenge March 31 to a court ruling halting oil and natural gas exploration off the California coast.

A day before the deadline to appeal to the Supreme Court, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said the administration wants to resolve the dispute over 36 offshore leases held by oil companies through negotiation, not lawsuits.

“The administration supports the moratorium on new leasing off the California shore and respects the wishes of the people of California,” Norton said in a statement.

The move was praised by California officials and environmentalists who had sued the federal government to allow the state to have some say in the future of the 36 leases in waters off Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

“The future of California’s beaches is now where it should be — in the hands of California,” said Gov. Gray Davis.

In December, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously blocked any attempt to build the first new oil platforms off California’s coast since 1994. No drilling to explore for oil deposits has been conducted since 1989.

The ruling, upholding a lower court decision, said the area can’t be drilled or explored until the California Coastal Commission approves the plan.

The March 31 action alone “doesn’t protect the coast,” said Drew Caputo, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The Bush administration needs to take the next step and let the leases expire.”

State officials had been urging the administration to call off the lawsuit and buy back the leases. Interior officials have said they want the state to bear some of that cost.