Longer Offshore Oil Ban Denied

WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee, unswayed by Californians’ pleas to give them a bargaining tool, refused today by one vote to extend an offshore leasing ban for another year.

The panel voted 26 to 27 against prolonging a moratorium on leasing along much of the California coast. The amendment seeking to extend the moratorium was offered by Rep. Sidney R. Yates (D-Ill.), chairman of the subcommittee dealing with the Interior Department. The decision could be overturned when the full House takes up the spending bill, if reconsideration is allowed in rules for handling of the measure on the floor.