U.S. Democrats seek to block OCS drilling

WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Lawmakers in states on the Western U.S. coast introduced a measure that would prohibit oil and gas exploration in U.S. waters of the Pacific Ocean.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., joined their Democratic partners in Oregon and Washington to introduce legislation the ban offshore drilling on the outer continental shelf of California, Oregon and Washington.

The so-called West Coast Ocean Protection Act calls for amendments to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which regulates waters 3 miles off the U.S. coast.

Lawmakers are wary of a measure to expand offshore drilling as a way to ease U.S. dependency on foreign oil. Offshore areas hold vast quantities of oil, though an April oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is causing U.S. legislators to tread carefully.

"Now we know what the potential is for catastrophe and we have to see that it never, ever happens again," said Feinstein.

The measure includes language that would bar the U.S. interior secretary from issuing exploration, development or production licenses for areas in the OCS off the coast of California, Oregon or Washington.

Environmental advocates say the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the April sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig could rival the impact from the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

"We simply cannot afford the risk posed by oil drilling off our magnificent coast," said Boxer.