November 29, 2012

Bingaman, Wyden, Udall and Markey applaud Interior Department’s Drakes Estero decision

Announcement will allow designation of first marine wilderness on the West Coast

Washington, D.C. – Senators Jeff Bingaman, Ron Wyden, Mark Udall and Representative Edward Markey spoke out in support of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement that he will allow the permit for an oyster farm at Drakes Estero to expire on November 30. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s current chairman, expected incoming chairman, chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee and ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, respectively, applauded the decision, which will allow the designation of a marine wilderness at Drakes Estero in Point Reyes National Seashore, as Congress intended in the 1976 Point Reyes Wilderness Act.

“We applaud the decision to follow the clear intent of Congress, as well as an agreement signed almost four decades ago to establish the nation's first marine wilderness on the west coast at Point Reyes National Seashore,” the members of Congress said. “This decision will protect the ecological heart of the National Seashore.”