Morton

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The energy crunch in the United States which resulted from the slackening of Mid-East oil sources in 1973 caused a revival of attention to undersea petroleum deposits which had long been assumed to exist in respectable quantities. The Department of the Interior (DOI) recommended to the President of the United States that consideration be given to the stepping-up of plans to lease acreage in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to private drillers. Subsequently, President Nixon delivered his “Energy Message” to the nation on April 18, 1973, a portion of which dealt with OCS leasing. Later the President announced “Project Independence” which was designed to accelerate offshore leasing and exploration so as to hopefully meet America’s energy needs by 1980. DOI hastened its feasibility studies in several offshore areas, including that off the coast of Southern Cali fornia, and industry was invited to make nominations of fields which their experts felt would provide the greatest drilling potential. Alarmed by the spectre of another Santa Barbara blowout, conservationist groups provided a chorus of protests to the resumption of any drilling to the Southern California…