Chevron Indicted

Oilmen are fast discovering that pollution cannot be dismissed as the price of progress. In the toughest federal action ever brought against a polluter, a grand jury in New Orleans last week indicted the Chevron Oil Co. on a 900-count criminal charge of having "knowingly and wilfully" failed to provide safety devices on 90 wells in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coastline.

If convicted, Chevron faces a possible fine of $2,000 a day for each well for ten days of violations. The total fines could reach $1,800,000.

"We are confident that when the case is tried, we will be completely vindicated," says Chevron President K.H. Shaffer. The very fact that the case has been brought has already vindicated U.S. Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel. Although often accused by environmentalists of being soft on industry, Hickel was outraged last March 10 when he learned about a massive oil leak at a Chevron offshore platform. It was not only the 4,000 barrels a day gushing into the Gulf that bothered him. The spill also threatened his philosophy that industry could live in harmony with the environment.

The Very Guy. After flying to the scene, Hickel concluded that the leak was caused by violations of federal regulations laid down in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which he himself had toughened in 1969. Hickel charged that Chevron had failed to equip some wells with required "chokes," which automatically shut off runaway oil; the oilmen were presumably mindful that the safety devices can become clogged with 'sand and reduce the flow of crude. The Secretary later boasted that he had found "the guy, the very guy" who had lifted the choke from one offending well. Hickel also asked the U.S. Geological Survey to check other offshore wells in the Gulf. Result: of 3,400 wells examined, 300 violated federal requirements. Those offenders, too, face possible court action.

The Chevron case may reverberate in Washington for other reasons. In his crusade against polluters, Hickel has often seemed to ignore the Nixon Administration's "Southern Strategy." Governor John McKeithen of Louisiana, a state that derives about 40% of its revenues from oil drilling, petitioned the Secretary to be lenient with the oil companies--in vain. Hickel has also temporarily blocked construction of a West German chemical plant in South Carolina, and the controversial jetport near the Everglades National Park in Florida. In every instance, Hickel justifies his action as he did last week in speaking of the oil incidents: "We will be fair. But we will be tough. The future of our environment is at stake."

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