National Parks Southern California

A House Appropriations subcommittee voted 7 to 6 Tuesday to lift a 14-year-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling along the coast of California, sparking immediate opposition from President Clinton. In voting to drop the moratorium from this year's Interior Department spending bill, the subcommittee has begun a process that could eventually lead to new oil and gas exploration and development in federal waters off California.

A House Appropriations subcommittee voted 7 to 6 Tuesday to lift a 14-year-old moratorium on offshore oil drilling along the coast of California, sparking immediate opposition from President Clinton. In voting to drop the moratorium from this year's Interior Department spending bill, the subcommittee has begun a process that could eventually lead to new oil and gas exploration and development in federal waters off California.

If preservationists thought the battle for the California desert ended last year when Congress approved creation of the 1.4-million acre East Mojave National Preserve, they were wrong. What Congress can give, Congress can take away. And with a new Republican majority in Washington, longtime opponents of the desert preserve are hoping to starve it of funds needed to operate. Already, they have had some success. At the behest of Rep.

If preservationists thought the battle for the California desert ended last year when Congress approved creation of the 1.4-million acre East Mojave National Preserve, they were wrong. What Congress can give, Congress can take away. And with a new Republican majority in Washington, longtime opponents of the desert preserve are hoping to starve it of funds needed to operate. Already, they have had some success. At the behest of Rep.

Southern California Edison and two federal agencies said Friday they are only weeks away from resolving a years-long disagreement over connecting renewable energy projects to the grid. The parties reached a preliminary agreement one week after Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Edison urging the utility to end an impasse that had frustrated the government because solar projects were sitting idle long after they had been built. Utilities elsewhere in California have signed similar interconnection agreements with few problems or delays.

Guidelines issued by Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton on Wednesday will make it easier for counties to lay claim to old trails and closed roads they would like to open across federal lands in the West, including national parks in Southern California.