Reacting quickly and pointedly on an issue that is bipartisan in his state, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger late Tuesday came down hard in opposition to the U.S. Senate’s passage of the Domenici-Martinez-Landrieu bill on coastal oil/gas drilling (SB 3711). Schwarzenegger has made his opposition to coastal drilling a linchpin of his reelection campaign.

“When I campaigned for governor two and a half years ago, I made it very clear that I would do everything that I could to protect our coastline from the expansion of offshore oil drilling,” Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement released by his gubernatorial press office.

Noting that the current leasing moratorium has been working, Schwarzenegger called for keeping Tuesday’s Senate passage of the bill from what he called “opening the door to the [Rep. Richard] Pombo proposal that would allow more oil drilling and exploration off our beautiful coast. I have repeatedly expressed my opposition to this and any other measures that would weaken the national oil and gas leasing moratorium that has been protecting the California coast.”

While not outlining what form his continuing opposition will take, Schwarzenegger said the existing oil/gas leasing moratorium can continue to do the job in the future.

©Copyright 2006Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.