As a battle between Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and the Trump administration played out over the White House's recent proposal to allow offshore oil drilling in the Pacific Ocean, it turns out waters off the Oregon Coast may not contain much worth fighting about.

The last time any oil companies tried drilling exploratory wells was 50 years ago, according to documents maintained by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

Four different firms, including Shell Oil, drilled eight exploratory wells off the coasts of Oregon and southwest Washington from May 1966 to August 1967.

They all came up empty-handed.

A spokeswoman for DOGAMI, the geology and mineral industries department, told OPB in 2008 that the "interest in anything offshore is a reflection of what you have on-shore."

And according to a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management, the prospects of finding oil anywhere in Oregon aren't great. Michael Campbell told The Oregonian/OregonLive Friday that the department hasn't issued leases for any new oil exploration lately due to a lack of interest.

"It's just not economically feasible to get to the oil and gas deposits under us," he said, citing the difficulty of drilling through basalt layers throughout the state.

Negotiations between Brown and the Trump Administration may yield the same result.

On Friday, the Associated Press reported Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke agreed to visit Oregon and consider an exception to the administration's plans to explore offshore drilling off the state's coast. Zinke made the decision after speaking with Brown over the phone.

The previous day, the Oregon governor had blasted the administration's proposal in a CNN interview, saying the idea was "unacceptable."

"In what universe would this be okay?" Brown told Anderson Cooper. "Our coastal beaches are really important to Oregonians. They're very important to who we are and very important to our economy."

The governor made the appearance on "Anderson Cooper 360" following reports that Zinke and the Trump Administration had pulled the state of Florida from its list of drill sites after meeting with Gov. Rick Scott.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com