Offshore Oil Drilling Ban to End - Democrats Show No Spine

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse on offshore oil drilling - it did.

Era of Offshore Oil Drilling Ban Draws to a Close

After 27 years, the moratorium will expire in days. Democrats say they have no chance of renewing it in the face of Bush's opposition and election season pressure.

"I think it's awful," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "This battle is not over. We will come back and fight another day -- that's for sure." Rep. Lois Capps, a Democrat from Santa Barbara, where a 1969 oil spill devastated the coastline, said, "I hope that when Congress revisits this issue next year, with a new president, we can negotiate a compromise that respects the need to protect coastal states and puts our country on a path to a clean-energy future."

Read it and weep for our coasts here.