A statewide environmental group is urging the public to support a continued moratorium on drilling for oil off the California coast. A federal moratorium on new drilling has been in place since 1981. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has more.
There are several bills moving through Congress that would ease restrictions on offshore drilling. California Congressman Richard Pombo is head of the House Resources Committee. He favors allowing individual states to decide if they want drilling off their coasts. But Environment California's Liz Cornejo says all states must present a united front against offshore drilling.
Cornejo: Just if we protect California alone and Oregon gets opened up and there's an oil spill that's going to affect our waters, so we can't let the oil industry right now divide us on this issue.
California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, along with Congresswoman Lois Capps, recently introduced a bill to permanently ban drilling off California's coast. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS News.
