Lawmakers would let energy companies trade California offshore leases for drilling rights in Gulf of Mexico

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Lawmakers hope to make a deal with oil companies, allowing them to swap their drilling rights off the central California coast for those in the Gulf of Mexico. <br><br>Sen. Barbara Boxer,

Friday, February 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Lawmakers hope to make a deal with oil companies, allowing them to swap their drilling rights off the central California coast for those in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Thursday that she and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will introduce legislation to allow the companies to recoup huge investments in offshore oil leases in California from Ventura County to southern San Luis Obispo County.

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., whose district would be most affected by new drilling, will sponsor a similar bill in the House of Representatives.

The Senate bill would permanently ban drilling in 40 tracts off the California coast and turn them into ecological preserves.

The swap could cost the government up to $2.8 billion. Boxer said she hopes to introduce the legislation as part of a broad energy bill the Senate will take up in early March.

Boxer, Capps and 30 other California lawmakers on Thursday also filed legal documents in a lawsuit over the leases. A federal judge last year halted all oil and natural gas exploration, siding with California officials who adamantly oppose new drilling and who argued that the state has authority to restrict new exploration.

The decision left oil companies wondering whether they simply would lose the money they have invested.

The Bush administration recently decided to appeal last year's court ruling, arguing that the lease owners' property rights are at stake. The lawmakers oppose the appeal.

Boxer's legislation would require all the lease holders to agree to the swap and to end all outstanding lawsuits over the leases. If those conditions are met, the Interior Department would be directed to cancel the leases and offer equivalent rights off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, where oil platforms are more numerous.