Second Thoughts on the Pipeline

Second Thoughts of the Pipeline

The White House may be seeking a quiet way to reverse itself

Even as the Administration embarked on a risky new military-diplomatic venture in the Middle East, it was simultaneously trying to soften the impact of a wholly different foreign policy venture that had all the earmarks of failure. At issue: Ronald Reagan's on-again, off-again attempt to block construction of the $10 billion, 3,500-mile pipeline that will carry Soviet natural gas from Siberia to energy-hungry Western Europe. Washington's opposition to the pipeline, which the allies regard as essential to their economies, has opened a rift that threatens to undermine the solidarity of NATO. Thus, less than two weeks after Reagan defined the U.S. stance as "a matter of principle," the Administration appeared to be looking for a face-saving way to ease its recently imposed ban on the use of American-designed equipment in the pipeline.

Officially, the White House denies that there has been any change in policy. Presidential Spokesman Larry Speakes last week described a New York Times story that asserted the Administration wanted to ease the embargo as "basically not true." Other sources in the Government, however, suspect that the story was a trial balloon floated by the White House itself. And even one presidential aide admitted (privately) that his boss "would very much like to lift these sanctions."

In January the Administration imposed a ban on direct sales of equipment for the pipeline by American companies; last month a presidential order extended the embargo to sales of equipment, primarily rotor blades for compressors that drive the gas through the pipeline, made by foreign manufacturers under American license. Both the State and Commerce departments warned that the latter move would especially infuriate the Europeans. The White House now seems belatedly to realize that they were right.

But how can the ban be lifted without admitting error? Ostensibly, the sanctions were first imposed, and then tightened, in retaliation for the imposition of martial law in Poland. In the past, State Department officials have listed three conditions for easing the ban: an end to martial law; freeing all Polish political prisoners; the start of negotiations among the Polish government, the Solidarity trade union and the Roman Catholic Church. Administration sources privately concede that the White House would now accept any one of these steps—or even a milder move, such as the release of Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa from house arrest—as justification for loosening the sanctions.