California IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : U.S. Offshore Plans Draw Complaint

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday complained that the federal government has failed to alter its plans for offshore oil drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel or adopt other “vital changes necessary to protect California’s precious coast.” The Republican governor, in direct opposition to the Bush Administration, warned that federal plans to open 500,000 more acres to drilling off Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties will lead to “inevitable disagreements” between the state and federal governments. In a letter to Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., Wilson said that the Interior Department’s current plans renege on an agreement to exclude some of the proposed 87 three-square-mile tracts from leasing because of their high environmental sensitivity.