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A Republican move to expedite offshore oil drilling in response to $4-a-gallon gasoline includes a bill, scheduled for a House vote this week, that could bring oil wells to the Sonoma and Mendocino coast.

"They have the votes to do it," said Richard Charter of Bodega Bay, an anti-drilling advocate with Defenders of Wildlife.

The first of three drilling-related bills sponsored by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., House Natural Resources chairman, passed last week, 266-149, with 33 Democrats in support and only two Republicans opposed.

Two Yolo County-area politicians agree with a panel of national scientists who reported this past week that a sweeping plan to restore California's ailing freshwater delta and build a pipeline or canal to carry water to the south is missing critical information.

The National Academy of Sciences found in its review that the draft plan to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta lacks clear goals and a scientific analysis of the plan's potential impact on the delta's diverse plant and animal species.

Both state Sen. Lois Wolk and Congressman Mike Thompson agree.

More than 75 percent of domestically grown flowers are grown in California, accounting for 20 percent of all flowers sold in the United States and directly supporting more than 10,000 California jobs, according to the statement.

Between March 15 and 27, a series of storms swept across Northern California, causing significant damage in 17 counties statewide, including Del Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino counties on the North Coast.

The letter stated that damages are estimated to be more than $44.5 million statewide.