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Groups want US to suspend oil leases off California coast

Environmental organizations are demanding the Biden administration suspend and cancel oil and gas leases in federal waters off the California coast.

Credit: AP

This Oct. 19, 2021 photo shows heavy maritime traffic in front of the MSC DANIT ship, left, anchored outside the Port of Los Angeles. Federal investigators have said they believe a 1,200-foot (366-meter) cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas caught the pipeline operated by Houston-based Amplify Energy and pulled it across the seafloor early this year. They have not determined whether impact with the Panama-registered MSC DANIT caused this spill or if the line was hit by something else or failed due to a preexisting problem. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A group of environmental organizations is demanding the Biden administration suspend and cancel oil and gas leases in federal waters off the California coast after a recent crude oil spill.

The Center for Biological Diversity and about three dozen organizations sent a petition Wednesday to the Department of the Interior. The groups say offshore drilling threatens wildlife, fisheries and tourism, and the platforms off the coast of California are especially susceptible to problems due to their age. The move comes several weeks after an undersea pipeline leaked about 25,000 gallons of crude into the ocean off Orange County.

The Department of the Interior declined to comment on the petition.

Read the full AP story here.

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