West Coast governors band together to defend Pacific Ocean
Governors of the three West Coast states announced yesterday that by their powers combined, they will strive to improve the health of the Pacific Ocean. “We know that isolated local efforts cannot adequately address the breadth of degradation to our oceans,” said Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D). She and cohorts Ted Kulongoski (D) of Oregon and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) of California identified the key threats to ocean well-being as pollution, climate change, and declining fisheries, and pledged to lobby the feds to spend more on curbing urban runoff and conducting ocean research. Just for good measure, the trifecta vowed to oppose offshore oil exploration, even though it’s already banned along the West Coast. The group aims to create a specific action plan by April. “It’s harder for the federal government to ignore us when we speak with a common voice,” said Schwarzenegger, who’s running for reelection and just can’t seem to put enough distance between himself and President Bush.
