Two U.S. senators have offered a bill that they hope will put an end to the bitter dispute over offshore drilling between the state of California and oil and natural gas producers who hold the remaining 40 leases off the state’s coast.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, would direct Interior Secretary Gale Norton to cancel the 40 inactive leases offshore California, and offer the producers holding the leases a swap of “equivalent value” in the Gulf of Mexico within 30 days after the passage of the bill. Boxer and Landrieu said they plan to offer their initiative as an amendment to the comprehensive energy bill, which the Senate is expected to take up next week.

The bill, the California Coastal Protection and Louisiana Energy Enhancement Act, would ban all mineral leasing on the 40 tracts offshore California in the future, and would create an ecological preserve to ensure that the area is protected permanently.

“This bill is a win for every party involved,” said Boxer. It “allows California to get rid of unwanted coastal drilling, while also ensuring that these 40 areas will be protected for future generations.”

In addition, the bill “frees companies from a protracted legal battle by allowing them to take their business to the Central and Western Gulf,” Boxer said, and it spares the federal government an “expensive” lawsuit.

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