Flaw in drilling ban is its duration

We’re wondering whether a majority of Oregon lawmakers has heard the adage about “keeping all your options open.”

The reason for our curiosity is that the House of Representatives voted 38-21 last week to close an option that matters to anybody who uses electricity.

Which covers pretty much everybody we can think of.

The House voted to extend Oregon’s ban on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas within three miles of the coastline.

(Baker County’s representative, Cliff Bentz of Ontario, voted against the bill.)

But it’s not the continuation of the drilling ban, per se, that bothers us.

It’s the duration: ten years.

We hope the Senate, which now takes up the legislation, House Bill 3613, will trim the moratorium to a more reasonable span, say three years.

This is a particularly poor time for the Legislature to ignore any potential source of energy — including the much-maligned fossil fuels.

During the same week the House voted for the decade-long ban on drilling, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council unveiled its 20-year energy plan for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

The Council predicts that the four-state region can offset most of the increase in demand for electricity during that period through conservation and improved efficiency.

However, the Council also forecasts that about one-sixth of the new demand will have to be supplied through other sources, including wind turbines and natural gas-fired power plants.

Also last week, the Bonneville Power Administration slashed its revenue forecast for this year by $240 million due to a below-average snowpack that will result in reduced output from hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Given recent climatological trends, it’s almost certain that the Northwest will endure at least a couple more similar El Nino winters during the next decade.

And the Northwest Power and Conservation Council — hardly a shill for the fossil fuel industry — predicts that the region will need more natural gas during that same period.

Yet Oregon lawmakers seem determined to ensure that our state won’t supply any of that fuel.

Which seems to us selfish as well as short-sighted.

To be clear, we don’t mean to imply that the Legislature is locking up a resource that could revive Oregon’s economy as well as keep its lights on.

Even a lobbyist for the Western States Petroleum Association told a legislative committee this month that there are no proven supplies of oil or natural gas within three miles of Oregon beaches.

It seems unlikely, then, that our nearshore waters will soon be coveted for their fossil fuel potential.

But on the other hand, 10 years is a considerable span, technology-wise.

It’s quite conceivable that before 2020 drillers will have devised ways to tap offshore oil and gas deposits without harming commercial fishing or causing other problems which are legitimate causes for concern.

But with Oregon lawmakers imposing 10-year bans, there’s little incentive for anyone to work on creative solutions to the state’s real energy challenges.

The Legislature convenes at least once every two years, after all.

That’s plenty often enough for lawmakers to reconsider the offshore drilling ban.