DRILLING BAN: President Bush has pledged to...

DRILLING BAN: President Bush has pledged to continue the California offshore oil drilling ban at least six years, but county officials want it in writing. A one-year extension they’ve lobbied for is scheduled before the House Appropriations Committee today. . . . Why only one year? “We tried to get Bush’s long-term moratorium into law, but this thing in the Mideast broke out,” says Laguna Beach City Manager Kenneth C. Frank. “But if we can get a one-year extension every year, it’s OK.”