Sam Spade's San Francisco

An open letter from Senator Barbara Boxer:

Recently, running contrary to every shred of common sense, President Bush lifted the presidential moratorium on drilling for oil off our precious coastline. And now he wants Congress to lift the moratorium as well.

In the final months of his failed presidency, George Bush wants to give the oil companies a huge gift that threatens our coasts, our economy, and our jobs -- while not doing one single thing to lower gas prices.

Tell my colleagues in Congress to stand firm: Sign my petition to the House and Senate leadership, urging them not to lift the Congressional moratorium on offshore drilling!

I urge you to reject President Bush's proposal to lift the moratorium on offshore oil drilling.

Oil and gas companies already hold leases to 68 million acres of federal land, where they haven't yet even begun to produce oil. The oil companies have been derelict in drilling on the land they already have access to -- and now they just want more leases to add as assets to their corporate balance sheets.

Why do we need to open our sensitive offshore areas to drilling when the oil companies don't drill on the land they already have -- and when the impact of any new drilling won't have any effect on gas prices, while putting our coastal environment at risk?

It's time to protect our thriving coastal economy, worth $70 billion and almost 2 million jobs.

It's time for real solutions on gas prices, not political posturing and last-minute gifts for President Bush's big oil buddies.

Congress should be going after speculators, urging oil and gas companies to drill on the leases they already have, and releasing some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- not lifting the offshore drilling moratorium.