Offshore Drilling Ban In Oregon Expected To Be Made Permanent

SALEM, OR – Drilling for oil off the coast of Oregon hasn't been allowed since the crash of the Exxon Valdez in 1989. The state legislature has renewed that ban every decade since.

Now the state is on the verge of making that ban permanent.

A state senate committee heard testimony on Tuesday on Senate Bill 256, which would do just that.

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The bill is expected to make it out of the state Senate in the coming weeks.

There's been no opposition and the bill is expected to pass the House as well.

While the current moratorium is not due to expire until 2022, the issue took on a sense of urgency last year when President suggested that it was time open up the waters off of Oregon to drilling.

The moratorium had been set to expire next year but during her recent reelection campaign, Gov. Kate Brown extended it by executive order.

The ban covers only Oregon's territorial waters, which go from the coast to three miles out. Waters controlled by the federal government – which stretch from three miles off the coast to 200 miles off the coast – would still be open for drilling.

The bill currently being heard would, though, also ban the building of any infrastructure in state waters that could be used to support drilling in federal waters further out.

File photo via Oregon Legislature.