A federal appeals court on Monday effectively blocked new oil drilling off the California coast in the near future by upholding a lower court decision that state officials must first scrutinize drilling plans for environmental hazards.
The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals does not prevent new ocean drilling. But it continues to freeze all drilling plans on undeveloped tracts in federal waters off the state's coastline until the California Coastal Commission reviews their impact on the ocean, the shoreline and marine life.
Ruling unanimously, a three-judge panel rejected arguments by the Bush administration that state officials lack authority to review oil leases in areas of the ocean that are under federal jurisdiction.
The 33-page ruling graphically described the dying seabirds and 30 miles of blackened beaches that resulted from a 1969 oil platform blowout off Santa Barbara which, the judges wrote, "might have been avoided but for a failure of federal oversight."
The state's ability to review and influence federal decisions on offshore oil development in federal waters was designed to prevent these failures, the judges wrote.
Gov. Gray Davis called the decision a victory for states' rights and compared it to "a big stop sign" to leaders in Washington. "They should take the hint and halt further attempts to exploit California's spectacular coastal resources."
The U.S. Department of Interior said its lawyers were reviewing the ruling and had not yet decided if it will ask a larger nine-member panel of the court to re-examine the case or appeal it to the Supreme Court.
"This litigation is very narrow, focusing on process," said Interior spokesman Hugh Vickery. "This case, per se, does not deal with putting up platforms or putting a drill into the seabed."
At issue in the case is the fate of 36 undeveloped oil and gas tracts in federal waters off the coast of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
Oil companies paid nearly $1.25 billion to lease these tracts between 1968 and 1984. They drilled 38 exploratory wells, made 17 oil and gas discoveries, but never began producing oil from the tracts.
All of the leases were set to expire more than a dozen years ago. But the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service extended the leases repeatedly over the objections of state officials.
