Western Senators Propose Ban on Pacific Drilling

[Jefferson23]

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON, HENRY FOUNTAIN and MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: May 13, 2010

WASHINGTON - The political ripples from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster spread in the capital on Thursday as six West Coast senators proposed a permanent ban on drilling in the Pacific and another group tried to raise oil company liability in such a spill to $10 billion from the current $75 million.

The move by senators from Washington, Oregon and California, all Democrats, was largely symbolic because there are no plans today to open the West Coast to drilling. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, withdrew a modest plan for new offshore drilling shortly after the gulf accident.

The liability measure was pushed by Democratic Senators Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida, who said the current limit represents a small fraction of the likely damage from the BP spill.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, a strong proponent of offshore drilling, blocked their bill, saying it would discourage all oil exploration. She is sponsoring a separate bill to raise oil taxes by a penny a barrel to increase the federal spill response fund.

remainder here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14spill.html?hp