WATCHING WASHINGTON NOT OFF JONES'S COAST

Lingering discord over a planned wildcat off North Carolina has had repercussions on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Walter Jones (D-N.C.) and 16 other congressmen have filed a bill to overturn a 1984 Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal government's right to hold offshore lease sales even if coastal states object.

The court held that federal offshore leasing is not an activity that "directly affects" the coastal zone, as defined under the 1972 Coastal Zone Management Act, and thus does not have to be consistent with state CZM plans.

STATES' AUTHORITY

Jones said, "Overturning the court's decision will return the proper authority to the states so they can have a strong voice in their partnership with the federal government and, where need be, some control over federal activities that do not mesh with the management of their sensitive coastal areas."

Jones, House merchant marine committee chairman, will conduct hearings on his bill this month and markups in April.

The congressman, who represents most of North Carolina's coastal counties, is mainly concerned about Mobil Oil Corp.'s plans to drill a wildcat 47 miles off Cape Hatteras (OGJ, Sept. 11, 1989, p. 30).

Mobil and partners think the wildcat is as benign as an offshore hole can be. It would be far from land on a gas prone structure, so chances of coastal pollution would be slim.

Nevertheless, to resolve an impasse, Mobil and North Carolina agreed to have the Minerals Management Service draft an unprecedented environmental study of the exploration plan. Many oilmen felt Mobil made too many concessions. For example, it agreed to hire an oil spill cleanup vessel to stand by the drilling rig.

Jones, who supported drilling of the wildcat, praised the agreement and even claimed credit for it.

However, the deal did not allay coastal communities' concerns. Dare County even changed its land use plan to block construction of support bases, pipelines, or processing plants in connection with OCS oil activity.

And last December the state criticized MMS's draft environmental report, saying more studies are needed on currents north of Cape Hatteras and on fisheries resources and spawning conditions at the proposed drillsite.

MMS is revising its report, but a final version is unlikely before fall, blocking any drilling until 1991.

JONES'S TURNABOUT

In the meantime, Jones has become an opponent of the wildcat.

In January he filed an Outer Banks Protection bill to defer drilling for still more environmental studies. He followed that with his "consistency" bill.

He might be able to push those bills through his committee and through the House, but Senate approval is unlikely.

Even so, his message is clear: As long as industry seeks to drill off his state he will keep turning the screws.

Oil lobbyists are all the more disappointed because they previously counted Jones as an industry supporter. They never dreamed he would become one of those congressmen who advocate OCS exploration-anywhere except off their coasts.