Keep offshore off-limits.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Oregonians dodged an environmental bullet Thursday when the House rejected an effort to relax a quarter-century-old ban on offshore energy exploration.

But the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from Oregon and other coastal states who beat back the move to open up the outer continental shelf to drilling must remain vigilant. Pro-drilling forces are already gearing up for future runs at gas and oil drilling offshore in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as a portion of the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The energy industry and its supporters will certainly be emboldened by the 217-203 vote to defeat an effort to exempt drilling for natural gas from the congressional moratorium. That's significantly closer than last year's 262-157 vote on a similar measure, and political hand-wringing over high energy prices in an election year ensures that new coastal drilling proposals will emerge with the same regularity as efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration.

Indeed, the American Gas Association issued a statement saying Thursday's vote brings "momentum to other legislative efforts to get an outer continental shelf bill through the House and Senate."

Already in the works are proposals to let states opt out of the moratorium in return for a percentage of drilling royalties and to expand energy exploration only in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Offshore drilling is a lousy idea for many reasons - for starters, it's not necessary. Roughly three-fourths of estimated gas reserves are located in areas where drilling is already permissible. Thousands of already-issued gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico have yet to be tapped.

Drilling also has vast potential for environmental destruction. Many remember the disastrous 1969 spill from an offshore oil platform near Santa Barbara. A more recent example: the 190,000 barrels of oil that were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico when Hurricane Katrina damaged pipelines and refineries.

Though offshore gas drilling is less environmentally intrusive than oil drilling, it still produces significant water and air pollution. And how many Oregonians want to gaze out from Cape Perpetua or Cannon Beach and see gas rigs in federally controlled waters three miles from shore? Combine that with the maze of pipelines and other industrial facilities that would be located onshore, and the effect on tourism could be devastating. As Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., noted, "I can assure you that people don't go visit the coast of Florida or the coast of California to watch oil wells."

Moreover, ending the moratorium on gas drilling would invariably be followed by a push to include oil drilling. Gas and oil exploration typically go hand in hand, and the high cost of offshore exploration makes dual-purpose leases economically compelling for industry.

There may come a time when the United States really does need the oil and gas that lies off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts - and when technological advances allow it to be removed with little environmental impact. Raiding those deposits now would drain what amounts to a national energy savings account, one that grows immensely in value every year - and one that future generations may need far more dearly than we can imagine.