Thompson, Woolsey introduce offshore drilling bans

<p>Two weeks before a new Democratic administration takes office, the North Coast’s two Congress members introduced legislation Tuesday to permanently ban oil drilling off the coastline.</p><p>The action by Democratic Reps. Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma and Mike Thompson of St.Helena follows the lapse last fall of a moratorium that for 26 years prohibited oil rigs along the Northern California coast.</p><p>Coastal advocates have predicted that Democratic President-elect Barack Obama will be more supportive of their views than was Republican President George Bush, who had pushed to end the oil drilling ban.</p><p>An oil drilling moratorium still enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, said Richard Charter of Bodega Bay, a longtime anti-drilling lobbyist. “What’s missing,” he said, “is George Bush.”</p><p>Last summer’s national debate on offshore oil drilling occurred as soaring oil prices caused motorist to pay $4 a gallon for gasoline and there was increased political pressure to find new sources of domestic oil.</p><p>Thompson reintroduced legislation Tuesday that would ban drilling along the coast of Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.</p><p>Woolsey, who could not be reached for comment late Tuesday, reintroduced her proposal to protect the ocean waters off Sonoma County by greatly expanding two existing marine sanctuaries.</p><p>Thompson said Tuesday the North Coast is one of four places on earth that experience significant upwelling, the rising of nutrient-rich waters from the ocean bottom to the surface. The upwelling makes the region one of the world’s most productive ecosystems for marine life.</p><p>“I think it’s important that we make every effort to protect this area and to keep it pristine,” Thompson said.</p><p>He suggested that his legislation might not pass but still could become “one more leverage point to bring back the moratorium.”</p>