The Feds Win

Who owns the rich oil deposits that lie more than three miles off the U.S. Atlantic seaboard--the coastal states or the Federal Government? Last week the Supreme Court with Justice Douglas still absent ruled unanimously that the rights to the seabed and subsoil belong to the U.S. Despite the huge potential payoff involved, the Justices deliberated swiftly and reached their decision three weeks after oral argument.

The dispute began in 1969 when Maine announced plans to lease 3.3 million offshore acres for oil-company exploration. The Government, which had always handled such leases, promptly sued Maine and twelve other Atlantic coastal states. The states' principal argument was that they had acquired rights to all offshore resources under royal charters long before the U.S. was formed. The states further contended that they had never transferred those rights to the Government via the Constitution or any other document.

Legally, their argument was a long shot--and it missed. In 1947 and 1950, the court had turned down similar claims by California, Texas and Louisiana, based on "tradition" rather than royal charter. The Federal Government's jurisdiction over foreign affairs, foreign commerce and national defense, said the court, gave it title and rights to minerals from the coastline outward to sea. In 1953 Congress returned to the states their rights out to the three-mile limit, but no farther. In U.S. v. Maine, the court last week said that the states are not entitled to an inch more than Congress gave them. Thus it cleared the way for the Interior Department to start the leasing procedures for the Baltimore Canyon, a promising offshore area stretching from New Jersey to Virginia.

The states, however, are unlikely to give up on efforts to get their cut of oil revenues. Said Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel when he learned of the court's decision: "The oil companies can do all the drilling they want, but they still have to deal with the states when it comes to getting the oil ashore."

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