THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100194
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The U.S. Commerce Department has ruled in favor of North Carolina in the state's efforts to block offshore oil exploration along the Outer Banks.
Commerce Secretary Ron Brown has upheld a legal objection filed by the state to block Mobil Oil Corp. and other companies from getting drilling and waste-discharge permits from the federal government.
North Carolina issued the veto under powers granted to coastal states by the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Under the law, coastal states are given the power to object to offshore oil drilling, if such applications are inconsistent with state coastal management plans.
``The state had asked us to rule on whether or not the permit applications were consistent with their coastal management plan,'' Elliot Hurwitz, a Commerce Department spokesman, said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. ``We determined that the permits were not consistent with the plan.''
The veto can apply to any activity that could affect the coastal management plan, Hurwitz said.
Mobil spokesman Michael J. Kimmitt said the company was disappointed.
``From a policy perspective, the basis on which the Commerce Department made its ruling is disturbing,'' he said. ``It said that the state had insufficient information on the sea bottom and on the socioeconomic impact. The Department of the Interior has done additional studies on those areas. But apparently that information did not reach the Commerce Department before the ruling.''
State officials, as well as local environmental activists, called Brown's ruling a ``major victory.''
``This is wonderful news,'' U.S. Rep. Martin Lancaster said. ``It gives us even more protection against offshore oil drilling.''
Michael McOwen, a vice president of LegaSea, a group formed to fight Outer Banks offshore drilling said the ruling ``has been a long time coming.''
``There have been several nails in Mobil's coffin over the past year, but this may have lowered them into the ground in my opinion,'' McOwen said. ``You just don't know how happy we are.''
McOwen praised the work of Lancaster and the late Walter B. Jones Sr., who represented the Outer Banks before redistricting. As chairman of the powerful Maritime and Marine Fisheries Committee in Congress, Jones was an outspoken opponent of offshore drilling.
The ruling Thursday is the latest chapter in a continuing legislative and court battle between North Carolina and oil companies. The U.S. House and Senate have already approved a bill sought by Lancaster imposing a moratorium on further sales of federal oil leases off the North Carolina coast.
In 1990, Congress passed the Outer Banks Protection Act, which required the Department of the Interior to conduct more research on the impact of the oil industry on North Carolina's fishing, tourism, and other coastal resources.
``This has been a six-year fight,'' McOwen said. ``A lot of people have been involved in this, and we've received some help on a national level. But it's been like David and Goliath.''
Kimmitt said Mobil could seek a rehearing on the issue, but that the company's next step is uncertain.
``We just received the ruling ourselves. We have a right to request a rehearing, and we could do that on the basis of his ruling,'' Kimmitt said. But we haven't decided what action we'll take, if any.''
Mobil, along with other oil companies, is in litigation in U.S. Claims Court seeking the return of more than $300 million paid for oil leases off the coasts of Florida, North Carolina and Alaska. by CNB