Oil drilling ban wins key Senate vote

WASHINGTON — A proposed permanent ban on oil drilling off Sonoma County's jagged coast cleared another hurdle Thursday, winning U.S. Senate committee endorsement.

The measure by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a Petaluma Democrat, passed the House in March and is ready for a full Senate vote, which has not yet been set.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation unanimously endorsed the plan, which would roughly double the size of the Gulf of Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries. Oil drilling is permanently barred in national marine sanctuaries.

The Gulf of Farallones expansion would cover all of Sonoma County's 76-mile coast, from three miles offshore to as far out as 51 miles from Bodega Head.

“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said after Thursday’s action.

The Senate committee tweaked the bill to add 416 square miles to the expansion of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary off Marin County. The change was made after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave lawmakers revised latitudes and longitudes.

The Senate version also removes authorization for spending as much as $6.5 million a year on the expansion. Authorization is an early step in the congressional budgeting process and does not guarantee that the money will be available.

Some lawmakers are hesitant to ask for authorization when the nation faces a mammoth federal deficit and money for projects back home is scarce.

Michael Gravitz, oceans advocate for Environment America, a coalition of state environmental groups, called the vote “a clear victory for far-sighted management of our oceans.”