Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Six West Coast senatorsinstroduced legislation Thursday that would ban permanently new oil-and-gas drilling off of the California, Oregon and Washington state coasts. Citing the catastrophic blowout now fouling the Gulf of Mexico, the six Democratic lawmakers called for making permanent what has been a long-standing moratorium on new Outer Continental Shelf energy exploration and development along the West Coast. “We simply cannot afford the risk posed by oil drilling off our magnificent coast,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said. Boxer's Washington state colleague, Sen. Maria Cantwell, added that “it is simply unacceptable to risk irreparable harm to our coastal...