President Barack Obama signed an executive order Thursday that will permanently ban oil drilling off the Northern California coast by expanding the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries.
Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury-News is reporting that California lawmakers are quietly mounting a campaign to persuade President Barack Obama to protect a 50-mile stretch of California coast along Sonoma and Mendocino counties by the end of this month -- a move that would permanently ban offshore oil drilling there and create California's largest ocean preserve in 20 years.