The company leased off two of the magasin buildings and in 2005 decided to shut the other two.
More broadly, they want Mr. Salazar to reject the destructive philosophy underlying the Norton-Leavitt arrangement by reasserting the interior secretary's responsibility to help protect America's fragile landscapes from oil and gas leasing, off-road vehicle use and mining.
In recent years, oil and gas developers have been agitating for the first new lease for off-shore drilling in California waters since before the Santa Barbara oil spill.
And it really is our coal a natural resource owned by the public, at least until the federal government leases it off to private industry at rock bottom prices.
California officials have also asked the government buy back 36 leases off their coast.
Since 1982, Congress has regularly enacted an annual ban on oil leasing off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, with critics citing the risk from oil spills.
"We heard from many corners that now is not the time to offer oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic coast," Jewell said.
Florida's senators have introduced legislation to establish a permanent moratorium on offshore drilling and to buy back current leases off Florida's coast.
At the urging of California lawmakers, the House agreed to prohibit federal spending on the development of three dozen oil leases off that's state's coast.
