In His Energy Campaign, Bush Signals a Retreat
Administration's Options for New Drilling Sites Diminishing as Resistance Rises Throughout U.S.
Interior Secretary Gail Norton announced the scaled-back plan to allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico during a press conference Monday. (AP)
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By Eric Pianin and Edward Walsh
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 4, 2001; Page A04
President Bush's decision to scale back plans for oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico under pressure from Florida officials may signal a retreat from some of his most ambitious plans for opening protected areas to energy production, according to some lawmakers and experts.
Bush took office promising bold initiatives for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil. They included opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration, expanding production on protected federal lands and leasing nearly 6 million acres of Florida coastal waters to oil and gas companies.
But his options for energy exploration outside of Alaska, the Southwest and the western and central Gulf Coast are quickly shrinking. There is mounting resistance from lawmakers, environmentalists and some business leaders to drilling on environmentally fragile or pristine federal lands.
The House is on record as being opposed to expanded drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or on millions of acres of federal monument land now off-limits to exploration. Congress has signaled it will not go along with drilling in the pristine Arctic refuge.
The Interior Department announced on Monday that it had reduced its proposals for expanded oil and gas drilling in the gulf from nearly 6 million acres to 1.5 million acres, under pressure from Florida officials and businessmen who feared oil spills would ruin their beaches and multibillion-dollar tourism industry.
"I think it's an indication these resource development issues are much more difficult and complex than the administration was recognizing earlier in the year," Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said yesterday.
Moreover, by acceding to the demands of his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who faces a tough reelection campaign next year, the president may find it more difficult to overcome opposition to expanded oil and gas exploration in other parts of the country, according to Bingaman and others.
Don Likwartz, director of Wyoming's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, expressed disappointment over the Florida decision, which he said "raises a red flag for us."
Likwartz said Wyoming officials would like to see more federal lands in the state opened to oil and gas exploration, "but this may be an omen for possible compromises that have to be made by the administration which would preclude us even from a chance to do that."
White House and Interior officials said yesterday the Florida decision reflects the president's pledge to consult with state and local officials and environmentalists, but that the administration has not given up hope that compromises could be reached on drilling in the Alaska refuge and other protected federal lands.
"We remain committed to [Arctic refuge] production but realize that it won't be easy," said Mark Pfeifle, a spokesman for Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton. "There won't be any quick fix, and the only way energy production on federal lands will be successful is if there is an intense survey to make sure energy production can be done in a environmentally secure way and with a great amount of public input."
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) defended the president's decision as an unavoidable compromise in the face of united opposition in Florida. "He clearly sees the need for the United States to do more for our energy future, but all of that is not politically possible," Owens said.
Bush's national energy policy report, which was issued on May 16, stressed the importance of expanded use of federal lands and offshore drilling to address long-term shortages. Public lands annually provide nearly 30 percent of national energy production and are estimated to contain a substantial majority of the nation's untapped domestic energy resources.
Rolling power shortages in California have demonstrated the need to generate more electricity. That, in turn, has increased demand for natural gas, the environmentally preferred fuel to generate electricity.
A 1999 report of the National Petroleum Council, an advisory body to the secretary of energy, estimated that demand for natural gas would increase by 7 trillion cubic feet a year by 2010. The report said that about a third of that amount could be found by increased production in the Gulf of Mexico, including the area that Bush put off limits to drilling.
"The more restraints we have for exploration and production in the Gulf of Mexico, the more difficult it is going to be to meet that demand," said Mark Rubin of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's main trade association.
The oil industry has been drilling for oil and gas in the central and western gulf for about 50 years. Offshore drilling, by and large, is accepted in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, where the industry is a key part of the local economies. But as the Florida case illustrated, finding alternatives for exploration and production will not be easy.
The East Coast is closed to offshore drilling, as is most of the West Coast. The ban on new drilling leases off the West Coast was imposed in 1992 by Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, and was extended to 2012 by President Bill Clinton.
The Petroleum Council report estimated 52 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could developed off both coasts if restrictions were lifted. It said another 137 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is under restrictions on federal lands in the Rocky Mountain states.
The administration has complained that too much of federal onshore and offshore lands are off-limits to oil and gas exploration, but environmentalist say the vast majority of public lands in western and southwestern states are open to oil and gas development.
David Alberswerth of the Wilderness Society said it would be a mistake for the administration to try to open places such as the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana, the Red Desert of Wyoming or the Upper Missouri Breaks in Montana when "there are plenty of opportunities to drill in noncontroversial areas."
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