Extending north of San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, the sanctuaries will now be permanently off-limits to drilling

The Obama Administration has announced plans to nearly triple the size of two major marine sanctuaries off the coast of Northern California. After more than a decade of public comment and research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary will expand from 529 square miles to 1,286 square miles and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary will expand from 1,282 square miles to 3,295 square miles. Together, the two sanctuaries will be nearly the size of Connecticut. When combined with the nearby Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a a stretch of more than 150 miles of coastal waters will now be protected.

LINK (via:Think Progress)