ANCHESTER, N.H. - Vice President Al Gore, reaffirming his interest in the environment, will pledge today to stop all new oil drilling off the shores of California and Florida if elected president.
''The environment is much more than a policy position to me; it is a profoundly moral obligation,'' according to a text of Gore's remarks provided to the Globe. ''We only have this one Earth. And if we do not keep it healthy and safe, every other gift we leave our children will be meaningless.''
Gore will also announce today at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye that if elected, he will fight to prevent oil drilling in federal waters off all states where the public clearly opposes it, even if companies have already been granted offshore leases.
Last year, the Clinton administration announced a 10-year extension of a ban on new offshore leases for much of the US coastline and a permanent ban on leasing in national marine sanctuaries.
Gore's proposals are sure to anger the oil companies, which are proposing new drilling under existing leases off the coasts of California and Florida. But environmentalists say the ban on oil drilling is important because oil can wash up on the beaches and destroy the coastline, reefs, and marine life.
''I am placing environmental protection at the very heart of my campaign,'' Gore said.
