State seeks to sink offshore drilling

California, ever protective of its coastline (even somtimes to its own chagrin) is launching lobbying efforts in Washington to head off moves towards offshore drilling:

California officials, fearful that opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling could become the start of a trend, have launched a full-scale lobbying effort to make certain the Comprehensive Energy Bill now under consideration in Congress does not also open the door for renewed drilling off the California coast.

They were handed a partial victory late last week. The House voted down a proposal to exempt drilling for natural gas from an offshore-drilling moratorium that applies to most coastal areas in the United States, including California.

"We should all take a collective sigh of relief," said Controller Steve Westly. "However, it is important to note that the real fight is still ahead of us."

Westly sits on the three-member State Lands Commission, which oversees management of coastal areas up to three miles offshore. He organized a campaign along with seven statewide environmental groups to urge every California elected official to "stand up and speak out against any energy measure in Congress that threatens to allow drilling off our coast."

In asking state elected officials to speak out, Sierra Club regional director Carl Zichella called the Energy Bill "the greatest threat to California's precious coast since the Santa Barbara oil spill."