The search for dialogue in the administrative state: The politics, policy, and law of offshore oil development

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:7246011

Lester, C F

The 1978 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments (OC-SLA) established a comprehensive decision-making framework to promote the [open quotes]expeditious yet environmentally-sound[close quotes] development of offshore oil. Congress thought that open political dialogue between development and conservation interests, and thorough scientific analysis, would end the legal and political conflict that had been delaying development since the 1973 oil crisis. This conflict became only more intractable. By 1990, the offshore development program was in a persistent state of policy irresolution and costly deadlock. Why The aggressive and ideologically-rigid politics of the newly-elected Reagan administration upset the consensus that had forged the OCSLA, undermining efforts to balance development and environmental concerns. Coastal state Congressional representatives responded to their outraged state, local, and environmental constituents with piecemeal, annual prohibitions of offshore development. These prohibitions undermined the statutory goal of development and expert assessment of complex economic and geologic issues. Deeply ingrained agency practices obscured the rationales of federal administrative policies, promoting public distrust of the development program. Formal environmental analysis and public participation prevented the public resolution of the complex scientific issues of offshore development. The separation of political, executive, and legal institutional discourses in the U.S Constitutional system provided incentives for non-cooperation and distorted social problem-solving. Institutional fragmentation seems to practically assure policy deadlock when a conflict is defined by extreme scientific, economic, legal, political, and jurisdictional uncertainty. New, pragmatic institutions are needed that both consolidate political and administrative policy-making and integrate the norms of expert factual inquiry, political representation, and judicial fairness.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7246011
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
294002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
AMENDMENTS
DRILLING
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
LEGAL ASPECTS
OFFSHORE DRILLING
OFFSHORE SITES
PETROLEUM
POLITICAL ASPECTS
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT